carper

See also: Carper

English

Etymology

From carp +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɑː(ɹ)pə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)pə(ɹ)

Noun

carper (plural carpers)

1. A person who habitually carps, who talks too much and regularly finds fault.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Shame not these woods, / By putting on the cunning of a carper.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:

     Come, let my carper to his life now look,
     And find there darker lines than in my book
     He findeth any […]

   • 1908, Molière, translated by Curtis Hidden Page, Act I, and Scene I, Tartuffe‎^[1], published 1664:

     He censures everything, this zealous carper.

   • 1919 August, P. G. Wodehouse, “Prohibition and the Drama”, in Vanity Fair, page 21:

     What is this sort of piece going to do when confronted with row upon row of coldly sober carpers?

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 11, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     […] Lady Tipper […] shook her head in wounded defiance of all the carpers and whiners.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complainer