flying carpet
1
8.3
- noun
- /ˈflaɪɪŋ ˈkɑːrpɪt/
- Literature
:
alfombra voladora
- Flying carpets are swift, powered as they are by the strongest spells of mighty djinns.
Examples
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Not for the first time did he wish he had the new super thunderbolts, but the Grand Turk, profligate in matters concerning his seraglio, was stingy when it came to updating the armament of his flying carpets.
Fiction book (1991) -
A flying carpet.
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My Prince, here is the greatest rarity in the world, ...the flying carpet.
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"This is a flying carpet," Achmed said.
Fiction book (1991) -
By flying carpet, milord.
Fiction book (1991) -
He gained rapidly on the flying carpet, and then, coming up behind and above it, nosed the broomsticks over into a power dive.
Fiction book (1991) -
Azzie, driving the two broomsticks at full throttle, saw the flying carpet ahead of him, outlined fantastically against the full moon, and he closed in, his eyes slitted against the airstream.
Fiction book (1991) -
In the story, Aladdin flew across the desert on a flying carpet that took him anywhere he wished.
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The child dreamed of soaring through the sky on a magical flying carpet like those in fairy tales.
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Legends say that a flying carpet can whisk its rider away to distant lands in the blink of an eye.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning "a carpet that flies/transports people" is directly inferable from combining "fly" (to move through the air) with "carpet" (a floor covering); a B1 learner who knows both words will naturally interpret it as a carpet capable of flight. This image is a common folkloric trope across many languages, so the compositional, literal reading is immediately accessible.
Etymology
The noun flying carpet comes from old Middle Eastern stories where a carpet lifted into the air and began flying, carrying people quickly to far places. That clear picture of an easy, magical ride is why we now use flying carpet to talk about a quick or wonderful way to 'travel' or move in the imagination.