trap
A machine or other device designed to catch (and sometimes kill) animals, either by holding them in a container, or by catching hold of part of the body.
Example
“I put down some traps in my apartment to try and deal with the mouse problem.”
Other meanings
A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare.
“Unfortunately she fell into the trap of confusing biology with destiny.”
A (usually fictional) location or feature originally added to a map to detect plagiarism and copyright violations by other map makers or map services.
Kinds of trap
- lobster pot
- net
- pit
- pound net
- snare
- steel trap
- web
- catch pen
Related words
- entrap
- entrapment
Example sentences
Word history
From Old English "træppe".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “trap” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.