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trap1

  • noun 1 a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals. 2 an unpleasant situation from which it is hard to escape. 3 a trick causing someone to act contrary to their interests or intentions. 4 a container or device used to collect a specified thing. 5 a curve in the waste pipe from a bath, basin, or toilet that is always full of liquid to prevent the upward passage of gases. 6 a bunker or other hollow on a golf course. 7 the compartment from which a greyhound is released at the start of a race. 8 a device for hurling an object such as a clay pigeon into the air. 9 chiefly historical a light, two-wheeled carriage pulled by a horse or pony. informal a person’s mouth.

  • verb (trapped, trapping) 1 catch or hold in or as in a trap. 2 trick into doing something.

  — ORIGIN Old English; related to Latin trappa.

 

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