TRAP


Meaning of TRAP in English

1. n. & v.

--n.

1. a an enclosure or device, often baited, for catching animals, usu. by affording a way in but not a way out. b a device with bait for killing vermin, esp. MOUSETRAP.

2 a trick betraying a person into speech or an act (is this question a trap?).

3 an arrangement to catch an unsuspecting person, e.g. a speeding motorist.

4 a device for hurling an object such as a clay pigeon into the air to be shot at.

5 a compartment from which a greyhound is released at the start of a race.

6 a shoe-shaped wooden device with a pivoted bar that sends a ball from its heel into the air on being struck at the other end with a bat.

7 a a curve in a downpipe etc. that fills with liquid and forms a seal against the upward passage of gases. b a device for preventing the passage of steam etc.

8 Golf a bunker.

9 a device allowing pigeons to enter but not leave a loft.

10 a two-wheeled carriage (a pony and trap).

11 TRAPDOOR.

12 sl. the mouth (esp. shut one's trap).

13 (esp. in pl.) colloq. a percussion instrument esp. in a jazz band.

--v.tr. (trapped, trapping)

1. catch (an animal) in a trap.

2 catch or catch out (a person) by means of a trick, plan, etc.

3 stop and retain in or as in a trap.

4 provide (a place) with traps.

Phrases and idioms:

trap-ball a game played with a trap (see sense 6 of n.). trap-shooter a person who practises trap-shooting. trap-shooting the sport of shooting at objects released from a trap.

Derivatives:

traplike adj.

Etymology: OE treppe, tr{aelig}ppe, rel. to MDu. trappe, med.L trappa, of uncert. orig. 2. v.tr. (trapped, trapping) (often foll. by out)

1. provide with trappings.

2 adorn.

Etymology: obs. trap (n.): ME f. OF drap: see DRAPE 3. n. (in full trap-rock) any dark-coloured igneous rock, fine-grained and columnar in structure, esp. basalt.

Etymology: Sw. trapp f. trappa stair, f. the often stairlike appearance of its outcroppings

Oxford English vocab.      Оксфордский английский словарь.