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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

trap.

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.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɹæp/[t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]Australia, General-American[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]British, Southern, Standard[t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]Northern-England
  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.

    countable · uncountable
    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.

    countable · uncountable
    Unfortunately she fell into the trap of confusing biology with destiny.
  3. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. A (usually fictional) location or feature originally added to a map to detect plagiarism and copyright violations by other map makers or map services.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    trap street
  4. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. Someone with male-typical anatomy who passes as female.

    countable · derogatory · informal · offensive · slang · sometimes · uncountable · usually
  5. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare. 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 ostensible gender; otokonoko, josou.

    countable · informal · slang · uncountable
  6. An exception generated by the processor or by an external event.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object.

    countable · uncountable
    They shot out of the school gates like greyhounds out of the trap.
  8. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object. A covering over a hole or opening; a trapdoor.

    countable · uncountable
    Close the trap, would you, before someone falls and breaks their neck.
  9. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object. A kind of movable stepladder or set of stairs.

    archaic · countable · uncountable
  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. A place in a water pipe, pump, etc., where air accumulates for lack of an outlet.

    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. A geological structure that creates a petroleum reservoir.

    countable · uncountable
  12. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball.

    countable · uncountable
  13. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball. The game of trapball itself.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A vehicle, residential building, or sidewalk corner where drugs are manufactured, packaged, or sold.

    US · also · attributive · countable · slang · uncountable
    trap phone
    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.

    US · also · attributive · countable · slang · uncountable
  16. A genre of hip-hop music, with half-time drums and heavy sub-bass.

    uncountable
  17. A successful landing on an aircraft carrier using the carrier's arresting gear.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    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.

    countable · historical · uncountable
    a horse and trap
  19. A person's mouth.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    Keep your trap shut.
  20. Synonym of vagina.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  21. A policeman.

    archaic · countable · slang · uncountable
  22. Belongings.

    archaic · countable · in-plural · uncountable
  23. A cubicle (in a public toilet).

    countable · slang · uncountable
    I've just laid a cable in trap 2 so I'd give it 5 minutes if I were you.
  24. Trapshooting.

    countable · uncountable
  25. A mining license inspector during the Australian gold rush.

    Australia · countable · historical · slang · uncountable
  26. The money earned by a prostitute for a pimp.

    slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/tɹæp/[t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]Australia, General-American[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]British, Southern, Standard[t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]Northern-England
  1. To physically capture, to catch in a trap or traps, or something like a trap.

    transitive
    to trap foxes
  2. To ensnare; to take by stratagem; to entrap.

    transitive
    Be careful not to trap your finger in the door.
    She was trapped into admitting the truth.
  3. To provide with a trap.

    transitive
    to trap a drain
    to trap a sewer pipe
  4. To set traps for game; to make a business of trapping game; to travel for the purpose of trapping.

    intransitive
    trap for beaver
    They trapped north along the river.
  5. To successfully land an aircraft on an aircraft carrier using the carrier's arresting gear.

    intransitive · slang
    After three consecutive bolters, the pilot finally trapped successfully on the Nimitz.
  6. To leave suddenly, to flee.

    intransitive
  7. To capture (e.g. an error) in order to handle or process it.

    intransitive
  8. To attend to and open and close a (trap-)door.

    dated
  9. Of a 'trap': to trick a (heterosexual) man into having sex, by appearing to be a woman.

    informal · offensive · slang · sometimes
  10. To sell illegal drugs, especially in a public area.

    intransitive · slang
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/tɹæp/[t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]Australia, General-American[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]British, Southern, Standard[t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]Northern-England
  1. A dark coloured igneous rock; (now usually) any nongranitic igneous rock.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Swedish trapp (“step, stair, stairway”), from Middle Low German trappe (“stair, step”).

verb/tɹæp/[t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]Australia, General-American[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]British, Southern, Standard[t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]Northern-England
  1. To dress with ornaments; to adorn (especially said of horses).

    She was all trapped out in the gaudiest of clothes.
Where this word comes from

Akin to Middle English trappe (“trappings, gear”), and perhaps from Old Northern French trape, a byform of Old French drap, a word of the same origin as English drab (“a kind of cloth”).

noun/tɹæp/[t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]Australia, General-American[t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]British, Southern, Standard[t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]Northern-England
  1. The trapezius muscle.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Clipping of trapezius.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.