on the carpet

1 (of a topic or problem) under discussion.

2 (of a person) being severely reprimanded by someone in authority. informal

☞ Carpet in both these senses originally meant 'table covering', and referred to 'the carpet of the council table', a table around which a problem was debated (as in sense 1) or before which a person would be summoned for reprimand (as in sense 2). The informal use of carpet as a verb meaning 'reprove' dates from mid 19th century.