trap

• IPA^(key): /tɹæp/, [tɹ̥æp]
• (Northern English) IPA^(key): [t̠ɹ̝̊äp]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æp

From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-Germanic *trap-, from Proto-Indo-European *dremb- (“to run”). Akin to Old High German trappa, trapa (“trap, snare”), Middle Dutch trappe (“trap, snare”), Middle Low German treppe (“step, stair”) (German Treppe "step, stair"), Old English treppan (“to step, tread”) and possibly Albanian trap "raft, channel, path". Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic.

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

1. 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.

   I put down some traps in my apartment to try and deal with the mouse problem.

2. 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.

   • Shakespeare

     God and your majesty / Protect mine innocence, or I fall into / The trap is laid for me!

3. A covering over a hole or opening; a trapdoor.

   Close the trap, would you, before someone falls and breaks their neck.

4. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball
5. The game of trapball itself.
6. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object.

   They shot out of the school gates like greyhounds out of the trap.

7. A bend, sag, or other device in a waste-pipe arranged so that the liquid contents form a seal which prevents the escape of noxious gases, but permits the flow of liquids.
8. A place in a water pipe, pump, etc., where air accumulates for lack of an outlet.
9. (historical) A light two-wheeled carriage with springs.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 2

     The two women looked down the alley. At the end of the Bottoms a man stood in a sort of old-fashioned trap, bending over bundles of cream-coloured stuff; while a cluster of women held up their arms to him, some with bundles.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 51

     I had told them they could have my trap to take them as far as the road went, because after that they had a long walk.

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar.

10. (slang) A person's mouth.

    Keep your trap shut.

11. (in the plural) Belongings.
    • 1870, Mark Twain, Running for Governor,

      ...his cabin-mates in Montana losing small valuables from time to time, until at last, these things having been invariably found on Mr. Twain's person or in his "trunk" (newspaper he rolled his traps in)...

    • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter IX, p. 144,

      "Carry your traps out, Ma?" asked one of the passengers.

12. (slang) A cubicle (in a public toilet).

    I've just laid a cable in trap 2 so I'd give it 5 minutes if I were you.

13. (sports) Trapshooting.
14. (computing) An exception generated by the processor or by an external event.
15. (Australia, slang, historical) A mining license inspector during the Australian gold rush.
    • 1996, Judith Kapferer, Being All Equal: Identity, Difference and Australian Cultural Practice, page 84,

      The miners′ grievances centred on the issue of the compulsory purchase of miners′ licences and the harassment of raids by the licensing police, the ‘traps,’ in search of unlicensed miners.

    • 2006, Helen Calvert, Jenny Herbst, Ross Smith, Australia and the World: Thinking Historically, page 55,

      Diggers were angered by frequent licence inspections and harassment by ‘the traps’ (the goldfield police).

16. (US, slang, informal, African American Vernacular) A vehicle, residential building, or sidewalk corner where drugs are manufactured, packaged, or sold. (Also used attributively to describe things which are used for the sale of drugs, e.g. "a trap phone", "a trap car".)
17. A kind of movable stepladder.
18. (slang, informal, chiefly derogatory, offensive) A non-op trans woman or (femininely dressed) transvestite.
    • 2011 May 27, “Re: anons target US chamber”, in alt.2600, Usenet‎:

      And trust me you don't want to see a trap ether. I like my girls without a ding-a-ling.

    • 2013 One Piece: Grand Line 3 Point 5 page 47

      One way to spot a trap is to look for an adam's apple.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

19. (slang, informal, sometimes considered offensive) A fictional character from anime, or related media, who is coded as or has qualities typically associated with a gender other than the character's textual gender.
    • 2010 July 20, Antonio E. Gonzalez, “Re:Moyashimon Live Action”, in rec.arts.anime.misc, Usenet‎:

      Of course Kei would look like a young woman, that's how traps work!

    • 2013 September 7, Bobbie Sellers, “Re: What's your favouite anime?”, in rec.arts.manga, Usenet‎:

      I saw Episode 10 of the anime today. When it explains about the trap's problems in HS it was much clearer than the same section of the manga.

20. (music, uncountable) A genre of hip-hop music, with half-time drums and heavy sub-bass.

• snare

trap (third-person singular simple present traps, present participle trapping, simple past and past participle trapped)

1. (transitive) To physically capture, to catch in a trap or traps, or something like a trap.
   • 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:

     As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.

   to trap foxes

2. (transitive) To ensnare; to take by stratagem; to entrap.
   • Dryden

     I trapped the foe.

3. (transitive) To provide with a trap.

   to trap a drain;  to trap a sewer pipe

4. (intransitive) To set traps for game; to make a business of trapping game

   trap for beaver

5. (intransitive) To leave suddenly, to flee.
6. (US, slang, informal, African American Vernacular, intransitive) To sell narcotics, especially in a public area.
7. (computing, intransitive) To capture (e.g. an error) in order to handle or process it.

• betrap

• entrap
• entrapment

Borrowed from Swedish trapp, from trappa (“stair”).

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

1. A dark coloured igneous rock, now used to designate any non-volcanic, non-granitic igneous rock; trap rock.

• trappean
• trappous
• trappy

Akin to Old English trappe (“trappings”), and perhaps from an Old French word of the same origin as English drab (“a kind of cloth”).

trap (third-person singular simple present traps, present participle trapping, simple past and past participle trapped)

1. To dress with ornaments; to adorn (especially said of horses).
   • Spenser

     to deck his hearse, and trap his tomb-black steed

   • Tennyson

     There she found her palfrey trapped / In purple blazoned with armorial gold.

Shortening.

trap (plural traps)

1. (slang, bodybuilding) The trapezius muscle.

• part, part., patr-, prat, rapt, tarp

Either a t- prefixed form of *rap, related to rrap (cf. Old Norse raptr (“rafter”), English raft) or akin to Proto-Germanic *trap-, compare Old High German trappa, trapa (“trap, snare”), German Treppe "step, stair", Old English treppan (“to step, tread”), English trap.

trap m

1. raft, ferry
2. thick grove
3. furrow, channel, ditch
4. path (on the mountains or in the woods)

• rrap

• IPA^(key): /trɑp/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: trap
• Rhymes: -ɑp

From Middle Dutch trappe, from Old Dutch *trappa, from Proto-Germanic *trappō, *trappōn.

trap m (plural trappen, diminutive trapje n or trappetje n)

1. stairs, staircase
2. ladder
3. degree, grade
4. kick (act of kicking)

• vergelijkende trap
• overtreffende trap
• stellende trap
• vergrotende trap

• Japanese: タラップ (tarappu)
• Russian: трап (trap)

trap

1. first-person singular present indicative of trappen
2. imperative of trappen

From German Trappe, from Polish drop or Czech drop.

trap f (plural trappen, diminutive trapje n)

1. bustard

• prat

From English trap

• IPA^(key): /ˈtrɑp/, [ˈt̪rɑp]
• IPA^(key): /ˈtræp/, [ˈt̪ræp]

trap

1. trapshooting, trap (type of shooting sport)

Pronunciation /ˈt̪rɑp/:

Pronunciation /ˈt̪ræp/:

• trappi

• IPA^(key): /trap/

trap m inan

1. (nautical) gangway, gangplank, gangboard, accommodation ladder
2. trapdoor

   Synonym: zapadnia

trap

1. second-person singular imperative of trapić

• trap in Polish dictionaries at PWN

trap f (plural traps)

1. trap (a transvestite or trans woman)

trap m (uncountable)

1. trap (music)

trap m (uncountable)

1. trap (music)