Also -pee. [Fr.; pa. pple. fem. of OF. charpir to card: see CARPET.] Old linen unravelled into short ends of thread for surgical dressings; ‘very narrow, thread-like strips of linen torn off so as to leave fringed edges.’
1797. Encycl. Brit., s.v. Arsenic, He directs … dry charpee at each dressing.
1807–26. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg., 71. A bit of charpie.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflam., 347. The dry charpee is found to irritate the surfaces of some abscesses too much.
1872. Cohen, Dis. Throat, 94. This deposit is detached, as by a pledget of charpie.
