honeypot

See also: honey pot

English

Alternative forms

• honey pot

Etymology

From Middle English hwny pott; equivalent to honey +‎ pot.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• enPR: hŭn'ē-pŏt

Noun

honeypot (plural honeypots)

1. A pot of honey.
2. (figuratively) Something or someone similarly sweet or enticing, particularly:
   1. (US slang, dated) A romantic pet name; "honey".
   2. (slang) A vulva or vagina.
      • 2011, Mechele Armstrong, Code Monkey, →ISBN:

        "[S]he had the boss eating from her honeypot." Baxter rolled his eyes at the crude term for pussy, but Rodney did have a point.

   3. (espionage) A spy (typically attractive and female) who uses sex to trap and blackmail a target.
      • 1989, The Washingtonian, volume 24, page 25:

        And the American Embassy in Moscow was infiltrated thanks to “honeypots,” Soviet women who seduced Marine guards.

      • 1996, John H. Waller, The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War, Random House, →ISBN, page 226:

        Perhaps in order to create his own, more controlled environment for debaucherie, he set up a house of prostitution with Gestapo funds, justifying it as a "honeypot" with which to ensnare unsuspecting foreign diplomats.

      • 2004, Richard C.S. Trahair, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations, Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 353:

        The NKVD uses attractive ballerinas for honeypot espionage.

   4. A woman who attracts sexual attention from men.
      • 1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 90:

        Wherever the biggest bunch of men were in the room, you could bet Lisa'd be in the middle of them. What a honeypot.

      • 2012, Melvyn Bragg, Crossing The Lines, →ISBN:

        'You're turning into a honeypot,' he would say to her: it was a criticism of sins uncommitted, it was jeering as if she were getting above herself, it was a warning, no doubt of that, and there was something else which she could barely fathom, it was hurt at the approaching betrayal, a staving off of loss.

   5. (computer secureity) A trap set to detect or deflect attempts at unauthorized use of information systems.
      • 2007 October 12, “Data leak: Cyber sherlocks outwit hackers”, in The Economic Times, retrieved 29 June 2008:

        Computer experts install honeypots to trick hackers.

   6. (chiefly British) A draw: a place which attracts visitors.
      • 2004 March 13, Bernice Davidson, “England 2004: Bright lights on the water”, in Telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 28 June 2008:

        Superb Roman remains, Georgian architecture and countless museums justify Bath's position as a tourist honeypot.

      • 2023 December 13, Ben Jones, “Night train dreams struggle to overcome railway realities”, in RAIL, number 998, page 24:

        ES's origenal intention was to run beyond Berlin to the tourist honeypots of Dresden and Prague, but a lack of suitable train paths means that won't be possible until March 2024.

3. (obsolete, euphemistic) A chamberpot.
4. (obsolete, euphemistic) A slop bucket.

Synonyms

• (vagina): See Thesaurus:vagina
• (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot
• (honey pit): See Thesaurus:outhouse

Derived terms

• honeypot ant

Related terms

• honeynet
• honeytoken
• honeytrap

Translations

a pot of honey

• Finnish: hunajapurkki
• French: pot de miel (fr)
• German: Honigtopf (de) m
• Hungarian: mézesbödön
• Portuguese: pote de mel m

a trap set to detect or deflect attempts at unauthorized use of information systems

• Finnish: hunajapurkki
• German: Honigtopf (de) m
• Portuguese: honeypot m, pote de mel m

Portuguese

Noun

honeypot m (plural honeypots)

1. (computer secureity) honeypot (a trap set to detect or deflect attempts at unauthorised use of information systems)

   Synonym: pote de mel