Word of the Day for Monday, March 19, 2012
carp \kahrp\,
verb:
1. To find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably.
noun:
1. A peevish complaint.
She'd been carping about money lately – or not carping, but she'd inserted a few pointed remarks about pulling your own weight into the prolonged and intent silences that were her specialty – so he thought she'd be pleased.
-- Margaret Atwood, "Oryx and Crake"
And knowing he could not touch her by persuasion, he carped at her and teased her like a schoolboy.
-- Anton Chekhov, "Excellent People," Chekhov's Doctors: A Collection of Chekhov's Medical Tales
Carp comes from the Old Norse word karpa which meant "to brag or haggle."
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