# trap

Pronunciation: say "TRAP" /tɹæp/

## Verb

1. To confine someone or something in a place, or hold them in a situation, so that escape is impossible.
   - Simple: To hold someone or something in a place or situation so they can't get out.
   - _A rockfall trapped two miners underground for three days._
   - _High rents trap many young people in apartments they outgrew years ago._
4. To catch an animal or person in a trap or similar device, or to set traps for animals, often as a trade.
   - Simple: To catch an animal or person in a trap, or to hunt animals with traps.
   - _Rangers trap problem bears and move them to remote areas._
   - _The spider's web trapped a passing wasp._
6. To catch someone by trickery or strategy; to entrap.
   - Simple: To catch someone by using a trick or clever plan.
   - _Investigators trapped the suspect into confessing._
   - _She felt the interviewer was trying to trap her._
15. To deal illegal drugs, especially in public places such as street corners. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To sell illegal drugs, especially out on the street.
   - _He trapped on that block for years before getting caught._
   - _Plenty of kids in the area trap to survive, not to get rich._
16. In soccer and other ball games, to halt a moving ball with the foot or body and take control of it.
   - Simple: In sports like soccer, to stop a moving ball with your foot or body and control it.
   - _The midfielder trapped a long pass on her thigh and turned past the defender._
   - _Young players learn to trap the ball with the inside of the foot before they work on shooting._

## Noun

2. A machine or device made to catch animals, sometimes killing them, by holding them in a container or gripping part of the body.
   - Simple: A device that catches animals, and sometimes kills them.
   - _He baited the trap with cheese and waited near the shed._
   - _The hunters laid steel traps along the animal paths._
3. A trick or arrangement intended to catch someone out; a snare.
   - Simple: A clever trick or plan made to catch or fool someone.
   - _The detective laid a trap to catch the forger._
   - _He realized too late that the generous offer was a trap._
5. A difficult situation, often financial or social, that is hard to escape once one has fallen into it.
   - Simple: A bad situation, often with money or with other people, that you can't easily leave once you're in it.
   - _Borrowing against next month's paycheck can turn into a trap that lasts for years._
   - _For many teenagers, chasing popularity online becomes a trap they struggle to leave._
7. A genre of hip-hop characterized by half-time drums and heavy sub-bass.
   - Simple: A style of hip-hop music with slow, heavy drum beats and deep bass.
   - _His new album leans heavily into trap, with booming 808s on every track._
   - _Trap dominated the charts throughout the 2010s._
8. A person's mouth, in informal or rude use. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person's mouth, used in a rude or joking way.
   - _She told him to keep his trap shut about the surprise party._
   - _One more word out of your trap and you're leaving._
9. A hazard on a golf course consisting of a shallow, sand-filled hollow; the same thing as a bunker. *(US)*
   - Simple: A low, sandy area on a golf course that makes play harder if your ball lands in it.
   - _He took two swings to escape the greenside trap and finished the hole with a double bogey._
   - _The designer ringed the 18th green with traps to punish wayward approach shots._
10. A bend, dip, or similar fitting in a drainpipe that stays filled with liquid, forming a seal that blocks foul gases while still letting waste liquid drain away.
   - Simple: A bend in a drain pipe that holds a little water, so harmful gases can't get out but water still drains.
   - _If a sink goes unused for months, the water in its trap can evaporate and let sewer gas into the house._
   - _The inspector flagged two traps under the new bathroom sinks that had been installed without vents._
11. The trapezius, the large muscle spanning the upper back and shoulders. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The large muscle across the top of your back and shoulders.
   - _Heavy deadlifts develop the traps along with the rest of the back._
   - _She felt a knot forming in her right trap after the long drive._
12. The sport or discipline of shooting clay targets launched into the air from a machine, away from the shooter.
   - Simple: The sport of shooting at clay targets that a machine throws into the air away from you.
   - _He took up trap after years of bird hunting._
   - _The club hosts a trap competition every spring._
13. A trapdoor, or a similar lid or hatch that closes off a hole or opening.
   - Simple: A door or cover over a hole in a floor, ceiling, or roof.
   - _A hidden trap in the stage floor let the actor vanish mid-scene._
   - _Before the show, the crew checked that the trap beneath center stage opened and closed smoothly._
14. A house, vehicle, or street corner where illegal drugs are manufactured, packaged, or sold. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A place where illegal drugs are made or sold.
   - _He spent his nights working the trap, moving product for the local crew._
   - _The crew set up a new trap two blocks from the old one._
17. A poor area, especially of a city, where crime is high and opportunities are few. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A poor, rough area, often in a city, with a lot of crime and few chances to do well.
   - _She rapped about growing up in the trap._
   - _Every summer he goes back to the trap to run a free basketball camp for kids on his old block._
18. A device used to hold an object and then release it suddenly.
   - Simple: A device that holds something and then lets it go all at once.
   - _The lure whizzed past, the traps flew open, and the greyhounds surged toward the first bend._
   - _A spring-loaded trap launched the clay pigeons across the field._
19. A light two-wheeled carriage mounted on springs, drawn by a horse or pony.
   - Simple: A small, light carriage with two wheels and springs, pulled by a horse.
   - _She arrived at the station in a smart pony trap._
   - _The vicar kept a trap for his rounds about the parish._
20. Offensive slang for a male person, or a fictional character, who looks like or passes as female. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude slang word for a male person or character who looks like a woman.
   - _He was banned for calling another player a trap._
   - _The slur brands trans women as traps to demean them._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any dark, fine-grained igneous rock that is not granite, such as basalt or diabase; trap rock.
- (noun) An exception raised by the processor or by an external event, interrupting the normal flow of a program.
- (verb) To capture an error or exceptional condition so that it can be handled or processed.
- (noun) A usually fictional location or feature deliberately placed on a map to detect copying by other mapmakers or map services.
- (noun) A point in a water pipe, pump, or similar system where air collects because it has no outlet to escape.
- (noun) A geological structure that confines migrating petroleum, allowing oil or gas to accumulate into a reservoir.
- (verb) To fit a pipe, drain, or fixture with a trap that seals against gases or unwanted flow.
- (noun) A successful landing on an aircraft carrier, in which the aircraft is caught and brought to a stop by the carrier's arresting gear.
- (verb) To land an aircraft on a carrier successfully, the tailhook catching the arresting gear and bringing it to a stop.
- (verb) To deceive a heterosexual man into having sex by presenting oneself as a woman.
- (noun) A single enclosed stall in a public restroom.
- (verb) To leave somewhere suddenly; to flee.
- (noun) Vulgar slang for the vagina.
- (noun) A portable set of steps or small stepladder that can be moved from place to place.
- (noun) A shoe-shaped wooden device with a pivoting arm, used in an old bat-and-ball game to flip the ball up so it can be struck.
- (noun) An old English bat-and-ball game in which the ball is launched from a pivoting wooden device and then hit.
- (noun) A cop or constable.
- (noun) Personal possessions or luggage, usually in the plural.
- (noun) An official who checked miners' licenses on the Australian goldfields during the gold rush.
- (noun) Cash a sex worker brings in and passes to the pimp who controls them.
- (verb) To work a door across a mine passage, opening and shutting it to let carts through and keep air flowing.
- (verb) To decorate a horse or other thing with fancy coverings and harness.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–10, 12–20** — From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe or treppe ("trap, snare"), going back through Proto-West Germanic words meaning "to step" to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to step, trip, trample." It is related to Dutch trap and German Treppe ("step, stair"), the idea being "that upon which one steps."
**Meaning 11** — A clipping of trapezius.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/trap (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).