trap1
¦ noun
1. a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals.
2. an unpleasant situation from which it is hard to escape.
a trick betraying someone into acting contrary to their interests or intentions.
3. a container or device used to collect a specified thing.
a curve in the waste pipe from a bath, basin, or toilet that is always full of liquid to prevent the upward passage of gases.
4. a bunker or other hollow on a golf course.
5. the compartment from which a greyhound is released at the start of a race.
6. a device for hurling an object such as a clay pigeon into the air to be shot at.
7. a light, two-wheeled carriage pulled by a horse or pony.
8. informal a person's mouth: keep your trap shut!
9. (traps) informal (among jazz musicians) drums or percussion instruments.
¦ verb (traps, trapping, trapped)
1. catch (an animal) in a trap.
2. prevent from escaping.
catch (something) somewhere so that it cannot be freed.
3. trick into doing something.
Derivatives
trap-like adjective
Origin
OE tr?ppe (in coltetr?ppe 'Christ's thorn'); related to MDu. trappe and med. L. trappa, of uncertain origin.
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trap2
¦ verb (traps, trapping, trapped) [usu. as adjective trapped] archaic put trappings on (a horse).
Origin
ME: from the obs. noun trap 'trappings', from OFr. drap 'drape'.
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trap3
(also traprock)
¦ noun N. Amer. basalt or a similar dark, fine-grained igneous rock.
Origin
C18: from Swed. trapp, from trappa 'stair' (because of the often stair-like appearance of its outcroppings).