wall-to-walladj.n.adv.
/ˌwɔːltəˈwɔːl/, U.S. /ˌwɔltəˈwɔl/, /ˌwɑltəˈwɑl/ 1. Of carpeting: covering the whole floor of a room; fitted. Also absol. as n.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > floor-covering > [adjective] > covered with a carpet
Turkey-carpeted1831
carpeted1849
Kidderminstered1852
wall-to-wall1953
close-carpeted1958
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > floor-covering > [noun] > carpet > covering entire area
fitted carpet1898
close-carpeting1942
wall-to-wall1953
1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait ii. 12 I detest wall-to-wall carpets.
1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship vi. 97 Genuine hooked rugs scattered over the wall-to-wall carpet.
1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai iii. 39 The room fascinated me because it had two carpets on the floor, a ‘wall-to-wall’ covered by an Axminster.
1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) xxxvi. 78/2 Harvey hated crawling around on the wall-to-wall looking for contact lenses.
1977 New Yorker 15 Aug. 33/1 What impressed me most about that house was the carpeting, which was mercilessly wall-to-wall.
1978 Meridian Poetry Mag. Autumn 10 He bestrides the wall-to-wall carpeting Like a colossus.
2.
a. Of objects, etc., other than carpeting: extending from one wall to another; providing coverage of an entire space. Also as quasi-adv.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > [adjective] > types of furniture generally
standing1444
plush1615
Queen Elizabeth1673
occasional1749
Adametic1774
French-polished1836
upholstered1837
Adamish1838
Chippendale1855
Queen Anne1863
knock-down1875
Wellington chest1880
Adamesque1881
Sheraton1883
Hepplewhite1897
quaint1897
bombé1904
lowboy1915
Jacobean1918
overstuffed1922
spool1928
Williamsburg1931
thermed1952
stackable1958
Scandinavian1959
wall-to-wall1959
Populuxe1986
1959 Observer 12 Apr. 14/5 Underpinned with warmth—a wall-to-wall convection heater.
1977 Washington Post 27 Nov. m3/1 Wall-to-wall art—framed prints, posters or one enormous canvas—can cover a whole wall.
1977 Washington Post 27 Nov. m3/2 I designed everything wall-to-wall... The bed,..being 75 inches long, the distance between two of the walls, is an instant wall-to-wall component.
b. figurative. Extending from one end or extreme to the other; allowing no unfilled space; ubiquitous.
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the world > space > place > presence > [adjective] > present everywhere
ubiquitary1583
everywherea1600
ubiquitarian1641
ubiquitory1643
omnipresenta1711
ubiquarian1762
totipresent1768
ubiquitous1802
ubiquious1835
all-overish1838
wall-to-wall1967
1967 New Yorker 25 Nov. 222 He made a highly successful series of wall-to-wall mood-music recordings.
1973 Listener 19 Apr. 522/2 A respite from wall-to-wall Mozart on Radios 3 and 4.
1976 Patriot-Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) 10 July 3/1 The state police said it was just wall-to-wall people and wall-to-wall cars.
1977 Time (Atlantic ed.) 19 Sept. 9/3 When we kick down doors looking for these people at home, we find almost always tons of literature—wall-to-wall Marx and Marcuse.
1982 S. Paretsky Indemnity Only vi. 74 Why would he agree to see me? He'd never heard of me, he has wall-to-wall appointments.
1984 Listener 15 Mar. 19/1 Is there any good reason why we should have news bulletins, local and national, every hour on the hour, chat shows..and wall-to-wall discussion programmes?
1984 New Statesman 16 Nov. 16/2 Their sponsors include the IBA..and the BBC (in whose Reithian corridors the epithet ‘wall-to-wall Dallas’ was reputedly coined).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.adv.1953