trap

trap

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of trap in English

English Online Dictionary. What means trap‎? What does trap mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: trăp, IPA(key): /tɹæp/
    • (General American) IPA(key): [t̠ɹ̠̊˔æp]
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]
    • (Northern England) IPA(key): [t̠ɹ̠̊˔äp]
    • (New Zealand) IPA(key): [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ɛp]
  • Rhymes: -æp

Etymology 1

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 (“trap, snare”), German Low German Trapp (“trap”). 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

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

  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.
    Synonym: snare
  2. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare.
  3. (by extension, cartography, law, technical) A (usually fictional) location or feature originally added to a map to detect plagiarism and copyright violations by other map makers or map services.
    trap street
  4. A covering over a hole or opening; a trapdoor.
  5. (now rare) A kind of movable stepladder or set of stairs.
    • 1798 January 3, Edinburgh Weekly Journal, page 5:
      There is likewise a cabin trap with five steps.
    • 1842, Ellison Jack (girl, age 11), quoted in The Condition and Treatment of the Children Employed in the Mines, page 48:
      "I have to bear my burthen up four traps, or ladders, before I get to the main road which leads to the pit bottom."
    • 1889 (original 1886), Willock, Rosetty Ends, 29:
      Had climbed up the trap-stair, and was busy potterin' aboot.
  6. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball.
  7. The game of trapball itself.
  8. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object.
  9. 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.
  10. A place in a water pipe, pump, etc., where air accumulates for lack of an outlet.
  11. (aviation, military, slang) A successful landing on an aircraft carrier using the carrier's arresting gear.
  12. (historical) A light two-wheeled carriage with springs.
  13. (slang) A person's mouth.
  14. (slang) Synonym of vagina.
  15. (slang, archaic) A policeman.
  16. (in the plural, archaic) Belongings.
  17. (slang) A cubicle (in a public toilet).
  18. (gun sports) Trapshooting.
  19. (geology) A geological structure that creates a petroleum reservoir.
  20. (computing) An exception generated by the processor or by an external event.
  21. (Australia, slang, historical) A mining license inspector during the Australian gold rush.
  23. (US, slang, African-American Vernacular, also attributive) A vehicle, residential building, or sidewalk corner where drugs are manufactured, packaged, or sold.
  24. (US, slang, African-American Vernacular, also attributive) An area, especially of a city, with a low level of opportunity and a high level of poverty and crime; a ghetto; a hood.
  25. (music, uncountable) A genre of hip-hop music, with half-time drums and heavy sub-bass.
    Synonym: trap music
  26. (slang, informal, usually offensive, usually derogatory) Someone with male-typical anatomy who passes as female.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Klei Nightwriter, The Book of Voltaire: The Complete Bundle (Season 1) 3rd Edition REVISED, Klei Nightwriter
      I love femboys better than trannies, traps are better than futa anyway. We conversed and we started to get close. I chose her. So, she told me to sit down so she can cut my hair. "I want to dye my hair; how much is that?"
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:trap.
  27. (slang, informal, usually considered offensive) 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.
  28. (slang, uncountable) The money earned by a prostitute for a pimp.
    • 2012 (original 1981), Alix Kates Shulman, On the Stroll: A Novel, Open Road Media (→ISBN):
      For the first time in the week since she'd been hooking she hadn't made her trap.
Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “aircraft-carrier landing”): bolter

Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

trap (third-person singular simple present traps, present participle trapping, simple past and past participle trapped)

  1. (transitive) To physically capture, to catch in a trap or traps, or something like a trap.
    to trap foxes
  2. (transitive) To ensnare; to take by stratagem; to entrap.
  3. (transitive) To provide with a trap.
    to trap a drain
    to trap a sewer pipe
  4. (intransitive) To set traps for game; to make a business of trapping game; to travel for the purpose of trapping.
  5. (aviation, military, slang, intransitive) To successfully land an aircraft on an aircraft carrier using the carrier's arresting gear.
    Antonym: bolter
  6. (intransitive) To leave suddenly, to flee.
  7. (computing, intransitive) To capture (e.g. an error) in order to handle or process it.
  8. (mining, dated) To attend to and open and close a (trap-)door.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:trap.
  9. (slang, informal, sometimes offensive) Of a 'trap': to trick a (heterosexual) man into having sex, by appearing to be a woman.
  10. (intransitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To sell illegal drugs, especially in a public area.
Derived terms
Translations

Related terms

  • entrap
  • entrapment

References

  • 1895, William Dwight Whitney, The Century Dictionary, page 6441, "trap": "A kind of movable ladder or steps: a ladder leading up to a loft."
  • Richard W. Kroon (2010) “trap n. A type of character common to anime; one who is identified as male, but who is depicted as quite beautiful and feminine.”, in A/V A to Z An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media, Entertainment and Other Audiovisual Terms, page 702

Etymology 2

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

Noun

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

  1. A dark coloured igneous rock, now used to designate any non-granitic igneous rock; trap rock.
Derived terms
  • trappean
  • trappous
  • trappy

Etymology 3

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”).

Verb

trap (third-person singular simple present traps, present participle trapping, simple past and past participle trapped)

  1. To dress with ornaments; to adorn (especially said of horses).
Related terms
  • trapping

Etymology 4

Clipping of trapezius.

Noun

trap (plural traps)

  1. (slang, bodybuilding, anatomy) The trapezius muscle.

See also

  • trip-trap (etymologically unrelated)
  • trap set (etymologically unrelated)

References

  • “trap v.1”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

  • part, part., patr-, prat, rapt, rtPA, tarp

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch trap.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /trap/

Noun

trap (plural trappe, diminutive trappie)

  1. stairs, staircase

Albanian

Etymology

Either a t- prefixed form of *rap, related to rrap (cf. Old Norse raptr (“rafter”), English raft), or akin to Proto-Germanic *trap-, compare Old High German trappa, trapa (“trap, snare”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English treppan (“to step, tread”), English trap.

Noun

trap m

  1. raft, ferry
  2. thick grove
  3. furrow, channel, ditch
  4. path (on the mountains or in the woods)

Related terms

  • rrap

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic تُرَاب (turāb).

Noun

trap m (plural trep)

  1. earth, dust

References

  • Borg, Alexander (2004) A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 174

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈtrap]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *torpъ.

Noun

trap m inan

  1. trot
    Synonyms: klus, poklus
Declension

Etymology 2

Noun

trap m inan

  1. trap shooting
Declension

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

trap

  1. second-person singular imperative of trápit

Further reading

  • “trap”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “trap”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “trap”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /trɑp/
  • Hyphenation: trap
  • Rhymes: -ɑp

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch trappe, from Old Dutch *trappa, from Proto-West Germanic *trappā.

Noun

trap m (plural trappen, diminutive trapje n or trappetje n)

  1. stairs, staircase
  2. ladder
  3. degree, grade
  4. kick (act of kicking)
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Afrikaans: trap
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: trapu
  • Jersey Dutch: trāp
  • Negerhollands: trap
  • → Indonesian: terap
  • → Japanese: タラップ (tarappu)
  • → Korean: 트랩 (teuraep)
  • → Lokono: taráfo
  • → Russian: трап (trap)
  • → Sranan Tongo: trapu, trappo
    • → Aukan: taapu
    • → Kari'na: tarapu
  • → Warao: tarabha, taraja

Etymology 2

From German Trappe, from Polish drop or Czech drop.

Noun

trap f (plural trappen, diminutive trapje n)

  1. bustard
Derived terms

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

trap

  1. inflection of trappen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Anagrams

  • prat

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English trap. Doublet of rappu.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtrɑp/, [ˈt̪rɑ̝p]
  • IPA(key): /ˈtræp/, [ˈt̪ræp]
  • Rhymes: -ɑp
  • Hyphenation(key): trap

Noun

trap

  1. trapshooting, trap (type of shooting sport)
  2. (ice hockey) trap

Declension

Spelling:

Pronunciation /ˈt̪rɑp/:

Pronunciation /ˈt̪ræp/:

Derived terms

See also

  • trappi

Further reading

  • “trap”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎[11] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

French

Noun

trap m (uncountable)

  1. trap (music style)

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtrap/
  • Rhymes: -ap
  • Syllabification: trap

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Dutch trap.

Noun

trap m inan

  1. (nautical) gangway, gangplank, gangboard, accommodation ladder
Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French trappe.

Noun

trap m inan

  1. trapdoor
    Synonym: zapadnia
Declension

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

trap

  1. second-person singular imperative of trapić

Further reading

  • trap in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • trap in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English trap.

Pronunciation

Noun

trap m or f by sense (plural traps)

  1. (offensive, derogatory) trap (a transvestite or trans woman)

Noun

trap m (uncountable)

  1. trap (music)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Trab.

Noun

trap n (plural trapuri)

  1. trot (horse gait)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English trap.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtɾap/ [ˈt̪ɾap]
  • Rhymes: -ap
  • Syllabification: trap

Noun

trap m (uncountable)

  1. trap (music)

Derived terms

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English trap.

Noun

trap m (plural trapiau or trapau or traps)

  1. trap, snare
    Synonym: magl
  2. (vehicles) trap (cart drawn by a pony)

Related terms

  • (North Wales) trol (“cart”)
  • (South Wales) cart (“cart”)
  • men, wagen (“wagon”)

Mutation

References

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “trap”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

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