trapan
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɹəˈpæn/
rhymes: -æn
Forms: form: trapans
form: trepan
Etymology: The origin of the noun is uncertain; sense 2 (“person that traps or tricks another”), the original sense, was probably thieves’ cant and may be derived from trap (noun or verb). Sense 1 (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks”) is from the verb.
The verb is derived from sense 2 of the noun.
Senses: examples: text: As for all other Pretences, they are nothing but Death and Damnation, dreſſed up in Fair VVords and Falſe Shevvs; nothing but Ginns, and Snares, and Trepans for Souls; Contrived by the Devil, and Managed by ſuch as the Devil ſets on VVork.
ref: 1661 December 20 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “False Foundations Removed, and True Ones Laid for such Wise Builders as Design to Build for Eternity. In a Sermon Preached at St. Mary’s, Oxon, before the University, Decem. 10. 1661.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, pages 207–208:
text: [A] Man ſhould fix and fore-arm his Mind vvith this ſettled Perſvvaſion, that, during that Commotion of his Blood and Spirits, in vvhich Paſſion properly conſiſts, vvhatſoever is offered to the Imagination in favour of it, tends only to deceive his Reaſon. It is indeed a real Trapan upon it; feeding it vvith Colours, and Appearances, inſtead of Arguments; […]
ref: 1678 November 20 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1694, Robert South, “Prevention of Sin an Unvaluable Mercy: or, A Sermon Preached upon that Subject, on 1 Sam[uel] XXV. 32, 33. at Christ-Church, Oxon. Nov. 10, 1678.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume II, London: […] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, pages 515–516:
text: But novv has this little Embryo Strength enough to thruſt itſelf into the VVorld? To hold up its Head, and to maintain its Courſe to a perfect Maturity, againſt all the Aſſaults and Batteries of Intemperance; all the Snares and Trapans that Common Life lays in its VVay to extinguiſh and ſuppreſs it?
ref: 1715, Robert South, “A Sermon on Proverbs i. 32. The Prosperity of Fools shall Destroy Them.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, pages 81–82:
text: Julian was hastily revolving whether they ought, in prudence, to accept this man's invitation, aware, by experience, how many trepans, as they were then termed, were used betwixt two contending factions, […]
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 159:
glosses: An act of entrapping or tricking; an entrapment; also, a thing which entraps or tricks; a snare or trap; a stratagem or trick.
examples: text: [O]ld associates who had once thought him [Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston] a man of dauntless courage and spotless honour, […] now pronounced that he was at best a meanspirited coward, and hinted their suspicions that he had been from the beginning a spy and a trepan.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 32:
synonyms: word: bunco-steerer
word: charlatan
word: cheat
word: cheater
word: chiseler
word: cozener
word: defrauder
word: finagler
word: fleecer
word: fraud
word: fraudmeister
word: fraudster
word: humbug
word: goldbrick
word: grifter
word: gull
word: gyp
word: landshark
word: pickpenny
word: rook
word: scammer
word: scamp
word: Scandaroon
word: schemester
word: sharper
word: slicker
word: spieler
word: swindler
word: trapan
word: trepan
qualifier: probably originally thieves' cant
glosses: A person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim; a fraudster, a swindler, a trickster.