Makes me wonder about 'defending against the loss of these fine distinctions' so often espoused by the language guardians.

Yes. Just took a quick peak at the OED 1st ed. and learned about table carpets a thick kind of table cloth. Also, brought to mind lap robes, or travel rugs. I always thought that a lot of the fine distinctions come about from the juxtaposing of words into a phrase, sentence, or paragraph.