Trap (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

noun
  1. a contrivance used for catching game or other animals, as a mechanical device that springs shut suddenly.
  2. any device, stratagem, trick, or the like for catching a person unawares.
  3. any of various devices for removing undesirable substances from a moving fluid, vapor, etc., as water from steam or cinders from coal gas.
  4. 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.
  5. the percussion instruments of a jazz or dance band.
  6. trap music.
  7. trap house (def. 1).
  8. a device for hurling clay pigeons into the air.
  9. trapdoor (def. 1).
  10. sand trap.
  11. an act or instance of trapping a ball.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. the game of trapball.
  15. mouth: Keep your trap shut.
  16. (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.
  17. a carriage, especially a light, two-wheeled one.
verb (used with object), trapped, trap·ping.
  1. to catch in a trap; ensnare: to trap foxes.
  2. to catch by stratagem, artifice, or trickery.
  3. to furnish or set with traps.
  4. to provide (a drain or the like) with a trap.
  5. to stop and hold by a trap, as air in a pipe.
  6. to catch (a ball) as or immediately after it hits the ground.
  7. to execute a trap against (a defensive player).
verb (used without object), trapped, trap·ping.
  1. to set traps for game: He was busy trapping.
  2. to engage in the business of trapping animals for their furs.
  3. to work the trap.
noun
  1. personal belongings; baggage.
verb (used with object), trapped, trap·ping.
  1. to furnish with or as with trappings; caparison.
noun Geology.
  1. any of various fine-grained, dark-colored igneous rocks having a more or less columnar structure, especially some form of basalt.
noun Scot.
  1. a ladder or ladderlike device used to reach a loft, attic, etc.
noun
  1. a mechanical device or enclosed place or pit in which something, esp an animal, is caught or penned
  2. any device or plan for tricking a person or thing into being caught unawares
  3. anything resembling a trap or prison
  4. 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
  5. any similar device
  6. a device that hurls clay pigeons into the air to be fired at by trapshooters
  7. any one of a line of boxlike stalls in which greyhounds are enclosed before the start of a race
  8. See trap door
  9. a light two-wheeled carriage
  10. a slang word for mouth
  11. an obstacle or hazard, esp a bunker
  12. percussion instruments
  13. a policeman
verb traps, trapping or trapped
  1. to catch, take, or pen in or as if in a trap; entrap
  2. to ensnare by trickery; trick
  3. to provide (a pipe) with a trap
  4. to set traps in (a place), esp for animals
noun
  1. an obsolete word for trappings (def. 2)
verb traps, trapping or trapped
  1. to dress or adorn
noun
  1. any fine-grained often columnar dark igneous rock, esp basalt
  2. any rock in which oil or gas has accumulated
Trap (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

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