Word: trap Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-West Germanic *trappjā (“trap, snare”), from Proto-West Germanic *trappjan (“to step”), from Proto-Germanic *trapjaną (“to tread, stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *drebʰ- (“to step, trip, trample”). Cognate with Dutch trap (“step, stair”), German Low German Trapp (“step, stair”). Akin also to West Frisian traap (“stepping, treading, stairway”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English træppan (“to step, tread”). Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic. Pronunciation: /tɹæp/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp], [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap], [t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp], [tɾäp] 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I put down some traps in my apartment to try and deal with the mouse problem. Example: The Russian bear has always been eager to stick his paw in Latin American waters. Now we've got him in a trap, let's take his leg off right up to his testicles. On second thought, let's take off his testicles, too. 2. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Unfortunately she fell into the trap of confusing biology with destiny. Example: God and your majesty / Protect mine innocence, or I fall into / The trap is laid for me! 3. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: trap street 4. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. Labels: countable, derogatory, informal, offensive, slang, sometimes, uncountable, usually Example: And trust me you don't want to see a trap ether. I like my girls without a ding-a-ling. Example: man says he isn't a fag when asking to masturbate with my body. positions himself as conqueror, calls my body trick, trap, tranny. man fucks witch embarrassed by his own release […] 5. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. Labels: countable, informal, slang, uncountable Example: Bridget is the super trap Example: Of course Kei would look like a young woman, that's how traps work! 6. An exception generated by the processor or by an external event. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: They shot out of the school gates like greyhounds out of the trap. 8. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Close the trap, would you, before someone falls and breaks their neck. 9. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: There is likewise a cabin trap with five steps. Example: I have to bear my burthen up four traps, or ladders, before I get to the main road which leads to the pit bottom. 10. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 12. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A vehicle, residential building, or sidewalk corner where drugs are manufactured, packaged, or sold. Labels: US, also, attributive, countable, slang, uncountable Example: trap phone Example: trap car 15. An area, especially of a city, with a low level of opportunity and a high level of poverty and crime; a ghetto; a hood. Labels: US, also, attributive, countable, slang, uncountable Example: Maybe T.I was also making connection between fur trapping and living in the trap, or the hood. Example: Stay in the trap like my name was McCaulk. Dumb-ahh nigger, I think he meant Culkin. 16. A genre of hip-hop music, with half-time drums and heavy sub-bass. Labels: uncountable 17. A successful landing on an aircraft carrier using the carrier's arresting gear. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: After 100 traps, the arresting cables have to be replaced to minimize the danger of a worn or fatigued cable snapping under an aircraft. 18. A light two-wheeled carriage with springs. Labels: countable, historical, uncountable Example: a horse and trap Example: 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. 19. A person's mouth. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: Keep your trap shut. 20. Synonym of vagina. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: But she carries the shawl so well that you never get a peep at her trap until she’s ready to show it to you. 21. A policeman. Labels: archaic, countable, slang, uncountable Example: “He hung about, not to come over here afore dark, but he’ll be here soon,” replied Chitling. “There’s nowhere else to go to now, for the people at the Cripples are all in custody, and the bar of the ken—I went up there and see it with my own eyes—is filled with traps.” 22. Belongings. Labels: archaic, countable, in-plural, uncountable Example: ...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)... Example: "Carry your traps out, Ma?" asked one of the passengers. 23. A cubicle (in a public toilet). Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: I've just laid a cable in trap 2 so I'd give it 5 minutes if I were you. 24. Trapshooting. Labels: countable, uncountable 25. A mining license inspector during the Australian gold rush. Labels: Australia, countable, historical, slang, uncountable Example: 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. Example: Diggers were angered by frequent licence inspections and harassment by 'the traps' (the goldfield police). 26. The money earned by a prostitute for a pimp. Labels: slang, uncountable Example: The money clip held thirty-nine hundred dollars, combined with her trap money, she had five thousand dollars for her man. Example: The code was to call a pimp and tell him you have his hoe plus turn over her night trap but that was bull because the HOE was out of his stable months before I copped her.