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View synonyms for trap
trap
1[ trap ]
noun
- a contrivance used for catching game or other animals, as a mechanical device that springs shut suddenly.
- any device, stratagem, trick, or the like for catching a person unawares.
- any of various devices for removing undesirable substances from a moving fluid, vapor, etc., as water from steam or cinders from coal gas.
- Also called air trap. an arrangement in a pipe, as a double curve or a U -shaped section, in which liquid remains and forms a seal for preventing the passage or escape of air or of gases through the pipe from behind or below.
- traps, the percussion instruments of a jazz or dance band.
- Slang. trap house ( def 1 ).
- Trapshooting. a device for hurling clay pigeons into the air.
- Golf. sand trap ( def ).
- Baseball. an act or instance of trapping a ball.
- Also called mousetrap,. Football. a play in which a defensive player, usually a guard or tackle, is allowed by the team on offense to cross the line of scrimmage into the backfield and is then blocked out from the side, thereby letting the ball-carrier run through the opening in the line.
- the piece of wood, shaped somewhat like a shoe hollowed at the heel, and moving on a pivot, used in playing the game of trapball.
- the game of trapball.
- Slang. mouth:
Keep your trap shut.
- Slang: Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. (especially in anime) a crossdressing man who is perceived as or passes as a woman: a disparaging and offensive term when referring to a trans woman.
- Chiefly British. a carriage, especially a light, two-wheeled one.
verb (used with object)
trapped, trapping.
- to catch in a trap; ensnare:
to trap foxes.
- to catch by stratagem, artifice, or trickery.
- to furnish or set with traps.
- to provide (a drain or the like) with a trap.
- to stop and hold by a trap, as air in a pipe.
- Baseball. to catch (a ball) as or immediately after it hits the ground.
- Football. to execute a trap against (a defensive player).
verb (used without object)
trapped, trapping.
- to set traps for game:
He was busy trapping.
- to engage in the business of trapping animals for their furs.
- Trapshooting. to work the trap.
trap
2[ trap ]
trap
3[ trap ]
noun
Geology.
- any of various fine-grained, dark-colored igneous rocks having a more or less columnar structure, especially some form of basalt.
trap
4[ trap ]
noun
Scot.
- a ladder or ladderlike device used to reach a loft, attic, etc.
trap
1/ træp /
noun
- a mechanical device or enclosed place or pit in which something, esp an animal, is caught or penned
- any device or plan for tricking a person or thing into being caught unawares
- anything resembling a trap or prison
- a fitting for a pipe in the form of a U-shaped or S-shaped bend that contains standing water to prevent the passage of gases
- any similar device
- a device that hurls clay pigeons into the air to be fired at by trapshooters
- any one of a line of boxlike stalls in which greyhounds are enclosed before the start of a race
- See trap door
- a light two-wheeled carriage
- a slang word for mouth
- golf an obstacle or hazard, esp a bunker
- slang.plural jazz percussion instruments
- obsolete.usually plural a policeman
verb
- tr to catch, take, or pen in or as if in a trap; entrap
- tr to ensnare by trickery; trick
- tr to provide (a pipe) with a trap
- to set traps in (a place), esp for animals
trap
2/ træp /
noun
- an obsolete word for trappings
verb
- troften foll byout to dress or adorn
trap
3/ træp /
noun
- any fine-grained often columnar dark igneous rock, esp basalt
- any rock in which oil or gas has accumulated
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Derived Forms
- ˈtrapˌlike, adjective
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Other Words From
- trap·like adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of trap1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English trappe (noun), trappen (verb), Old English træppe (noun), cognate with Middle Dutch trappe ( Dutch trap ) “trap, step, staircase”; akin to Old English treppan “to tread,” German Treppe “staircase”
Origin of trap2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English trappe (noun), trappen (verb); of unknown origen
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Word History and Origins
Origin of trap1
Old English træppe ; related to Middle Low German trappe , Medieval Latin trappa
Origin of trap2
C11: probably from Old French drap cloth
Origin of trap3
C18: from Swedish trappa stair (from its steplike formation); see trap 1
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Idioms and Phrases
see fall into a trap ; mind like a steel trap .Discover More
Synonym Study
Trap , pitfall , snare apply to literal or figurative contrivances for deceiving and catching animals or people. Literally, a trap is a mechanical contrivance for catching animals, the main feature usually being a spring: a trap baited with cheese for mice. Figuratively, trap suggests the scheme of one person to take another by surprise and thereby gain an advantage: a trap for the unwary. A pitfall is (usually) a concealed pit arranged for the capture of large animals or of people who may fall into it; figuratively, it is any concealed danger, error, or source of disaster: to avoid the pitfalls of life. A snare is a device for entangling birds, rabbits, etc., with intent to capture; figuratively, it implies enticement and inveiglement: the snare of selfishness.
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Example Sentences
By climbing a small wooden ladder to a platform and removing the trap door, I was able to photograph the conductor straight on and capture her expressions.
From Los Angeles Times
Amanda Walker felt trapped in a flat she couldn't sell because of its flammable cladding.
From BBC
But underneath those theatrical trappings are a deeper, more insightful story about human nature.
From Salon
As these so-called greenhouse gases trap excess heat, they cause extreme weather events like wildfires, hurricanes and droughts, as well as rising sea levels.
From Salon
Or the ways that women who don't have money of their own are so often trapped, abused or abandoned into poverty.
From Salon
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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