Noun

trap (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.

   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.

   Unfortunately she fell into the trap of confusing biology with destiny.

3. A covering over a hole or opening; a trapdoor.

   Close the trap, would you, before someone falls and breaks their neck.

4. A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball; the game of trapball itself.
5. Any device used to hold and suddenly release an object.

   They shot out of the school gates like greyhounds out of the trap.

6. 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.
7. A place in a water pipe, pump, etc., where air accumulates for want of an outlet.
8. (historical) A light two-wheeled carriage with springs.

   Have James prepare the trap – I wish to visit the parson.

9. A kind of movable stepladder.
10. (slang) A persons' mouth.

    To ask a person not to reveal any information

    Keep your trap shut.

11. (plural) belongings
    • 1870, Mark Twain, Running for Governor,

    ...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)...

12. (slang, pejorative) An arguably convincing crossdresser, transvestite or transsexual, a person born with male genitalia that one engages in a relationship with, believing that person to have been born with female genitalia.

    I saw your brother asking a trap out last night at the bar.

13. (computing) An exception generated by the processor.
14. (Australian, slang, historical) A mining license inspector during the Australian gold rush.

Synonyms

• snare

Derived terms

• activity trap
• beartrap/bear trap
• booby trap
• bus trap
• firetrap
• fish-trap
• honey trap

• mantrap
• mousetrap
• offside trap
• optical trap
• rattletrap
• tourist trap
• trapdoor

A trap is a device or tactic intended to catch an intruder or an enemy.

Trap may also refer to:

• Deep-level trap, a crystalline defect in a semiconductor material.
• Tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), in biology
• Trap, Carmarthenshire, a hamlet in Wales
• Trap (carriage), a type of horse-drawn carriage
• Trap (computing), a code or signal designed to capture errors and reveal where they are
• Trap (novel), a novel by Peter Mathers
• Trap (plumbing), a U-shaped pipe located below a drain; also called a water seal
• Trap (poker), a poker strategy
• Trap room, a part of a theater
• Trap run, an American football play
• Trap shooting
• Twin reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP), a twin pregnancy abnormality
• TRAP law, a type of legislation used to restrict abortion providers
• Bat and trap, an old game related to cricket
• Flood basalt, or trap basalt, a type of rock formation
• TRAPS, an acronym for the cutaneous condition tumor necrosis factor receptor associated periodic syndrome
• Slang for a female to male transexual.