Forms: 1 treppe, træppe, 3–5, 7 trapp, 4–6 trappe, 4– trap. [Late (and rare) OE. treppe, træppe (in coltetræppe), ME. trappe, trapp, agrees in form and sense with rare MDu. trappe trap, gin, snare, mod. WFlem. traap, trape (De Bo), in Kilian, 1599, ‘trappe (old word) mouse-trap, trap’; also with med.L. trappa, trapa, in Salic Law vii. 10 (MSS. of 8–9th c.), ‘trap,’ OF. trape (12th c.), F. trappe, Prov. trapa, Pg. trapa, Sp. trampa; cf. also It. trappola (dim. of *trappa); all in sense ‘trap, pitfall, gin, snare.’ The relations between the Romanic words and the Du. and Fl., and the relation of the latter to MDu. and MLG. trappe, treppe ‘step, stair,’ are difficult to determine: see Note below.]
1. A contrivance set for catching game or noxious animals; a gin, snare, pitfall: cf. MAN-TRAP, MOUSE-TRAP, RAT-TRAP, SPRING-TRAP.
In the common type, a spring or other device, released by the animal treading upon it, shuts the latter in, or catches hold of some part of it, in this case often killing it.
a. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 95/13. Ic beswice fuʓelas hwilon mid neton … mid grinum,… mid treppan (decipula).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 145. She wolde wepe if that she saw a mous Kaught in a trappe.
1483. Cath. Angl., 391/2. A Trapp (A. Trape), decipula, pedica.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, I. xviii. The same lyon was take at a grete trappe.
1538. Elyot, Decipula, a grynne [ed. 1545 gyn] or trap to take byrdes.
1577. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 156 b. I would rather counsell you to destroy your Rattes and Mise with Traps.
1597. G. Harvey, Trimming Nashe, Wks. (Grosart), III. 48. How happie the Rat caught in a trappe, and there dies a living death?
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 177. We haue … pretty traps to catch the petty theeues.
1611. Bible, Jer. v. 26. They lay waite as hee that setteth snares, they set a trap, they catch men.
1655. Mrq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 72. It catcheth his hand as a Trap doth a Fox.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 171. I set three Traps … and going the next Morning I found them all standing, and yet the Bait eaten and gone.
1791. W. H. Marshall, W. England (1796), II. 256. The Salmon Fishery of the Tavey…. At one end of the dam, is a ‘weir house’ or Trap; on the principle of the vermin trap, whose entrance is outwardly large, but contracted inwardly, so as to … prevent the escape of the animal which has taken it.
1857. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 1571. A sudden sharp and bitter cry, As of a wild thing taken in the trap.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 252. Fish Traps…. Shrimp Trap. Eel Trap. Crab Traps.
19[?]. Trade Catal. Patent automatic mouse trap. Balloon fly traps. Beetle trap. Patent trap for catching rats, stoats, weasel, rabbits, badger, otter, and other vermin and animals, also … all kinds of birds.
b. transf. and fig., and in fig. expressions.
Often applied to anything by which a person is unsuspectingly caught, stopped, or caused to fall; also to anything which attracts by its apparent easiness and proves to be difficult, anything deceptive.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12301. He fandeþþ þa to lacchenn þe þurrh trapp off modiȝnesse.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 613. She wende neuere han come in swich a trappe.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. 2659. Ȝif þei myȝt cacche hym in a trappe.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., xvi. (Percy Soc.), 64. Sodaynly my herte was in a trap By Venus caught.
1611. Bible, Rom. xi. 9. Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling blocke.
1654. Bramhall, Just Vind., iii. (1661), 40. The cruel statute of the Six Articles; which he made … as a trap to catch the lives of the Poor Protestants.
1765. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767), II. viii. 30. Let her lay traps for admiration.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, I. ii. 15. He resolved to take the Scottish invader in a trap.
1883. E. Pennell-Elmhirst, Cream Leicestersh., 377. Two deep, hidden grips in midfield were nasty traps for blown horses.
c. Popularly applied to a police arrangement for the timing of motorists over a measured distance, in order to secure the conviction of such as exceed the legal speed-limit. Also police-trap.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 28 Aug., 4/2. The fear of the traps and the consequent fines is … an inducement to avoid tours in England…. Car owners do not care to take the risks of the traps.
2. A movable covering of a pit, or of an opening in a floor, designed to fall when stepped upon; hence applied to any similar door flush with the surface in a floor, ceiling, roof, the top of a cab, or the like: cf. TRAP-DOOR.
13[?]. Coer de L., 4093. Doun ye scholde fallen there, In a pyt syxty fadme deep: Therfore beware,… At the passing of the trappe, Many on has had ful evyl happe.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 692 (741). And with þat word he gan vn-do a trappe, And Troylus he brought In by þe lappe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XIX. vii. 784. Sir launcelot that no peryl dredde … trade on a trap and the bord rollyd, and there sir Launcelot felle doune more than ten fadom in to a caue ful of strawe.
1682. Dryden, Mac Fl., 212. Bruce and Longville had a trap prepared, And down they sent the yet declaiming bard.
1879. F. W. Robinson, Coward Consc., II. vi. ‘All right,’ said the cabman … as he closed the trap.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, ix. He … drew forth … from some trap in the floor: a small box.
1904. Kipling, in Windsor Mag., Jan., 228/2. Pyecroft … rising like a fairy from a pantomime trap.
1907. H. Wales, The Yoke, xviii. He pushed up the trap with his umbrella. ‘Stop at the first jeweller’s,’ he said to the [cab] driver.
3. The pivoted wooden instrument with which the ball is thrown up in the game of TRAP-BALL, q.v.; hence by extension, the game itself.
1591. [implied in TRAPSTICK].
1598. Florio, Lippa, a trap or cat, such as children play at. Ibid., Trappola.… Also a play that children vse called trap.
1637. Shirley, Hyde Park, II. iv. D iv. I have heard you … in your younger [days] could play at trap well.
1652. J. Taylor (Water P.), Journ. Wales (1859), 26. The … laudable games of trapp, catt, stool-ball, racket, etc.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, III. 162. We merrily Play At Trap.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., II. iii. § 20. The trap … is generally made in the form of a shoe, the heel part being hollowed out for the reception of the ball; but boys and … rustics, who cannot readily procure a trap, content themselves with making a round hole in the ground.
b. Trap (bat) and ball: = TRAP-BALL.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 430. A game at trap-and-ball.
1868. Hughes, Tom Brown (ed. 6), Pref. 11. Playing trap-bat-and-ball.
1877. Cornh. Mag., XXXVI. 368. To play trap-and-ball with Robin and Jack.
4. A device for suddenly releasing or throwing into the air an object to be shot at, as a pigeon.
1812. Sporting Mag., XL. 41. The trap was twenty-one yards from the gun. Ibid. (1813), XLI. 84. The parties fired with double-barrelled guns at two pigeons from a trap.
1892. Greener, Breech Loader, 234. It is wise to shoot pigeons at recognised clubs only … or experience at the trap may be very dearly bought.
5. colloq. or slang. Deceitful practice; trickery; fraud. To understand trap, to know one’s own interest; to be up to trap, to be knowing or cunning.
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 5 (1713), I. 30. Well, Brother, I understand Trap.
a. 1734. North, Exam., III. vii. § 63 (1740), 549. Some cunning Persons, that had found out his … Ignorance of Trap,… put him in great Fright, telling him he would certainly be hanged.
1785. Cowper, Lett. to Lady Hesketh, 15 Dec. He understands booksellers’ trap as well as any man.
1819. Metropolis, II. 107. A papa too much up to trap to allow his offspring thus to be had.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, ii. A clever, ready-witted fellow, up to all sorts of trap.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 14 Oct., 2/1. A ‘policy’ undistinguishable from trap in appearance.
6. slang. One whose business is to ‘trap’ or catch offenders; a thief-taker; a detective or policeman; a sheriff’s officer.
1705. E. Ward, Hud. Rediv., IV. v. 8. All girt with Chaps, Men, Boys, and Women, Traps Divers, Punks, and Serjeants Yeomen.
1800. Sporting Mag., XVI. 26. Send the traps to pull up Bounce and Blunderbuss.
1828. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 232. While the culprit stood quaking in the dock, surrounded by the traps of office.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xiii. ‘Why, the traps have got him, and that’s all about it, said the Dodger, sullenly.
1898. in M. Davitt, Life & Progr. Australia, xxxv. 192. A policeman is a ‘Johnny,’ Or a ‘copman’ or a ‘trap.’
1902. Snaith, Wayfarers, i. Expecting at every cast of the cards … to hear the boots of the ‘traps’ from Bow Street upon the stairs.
1905. Daily News, 2 Jan., 9. Prisoner … said he was convicted upon the false evidence of a ‘trap’—a Kaffir spy.
7. colloq. A small carriage on springs; usually, a two-wheeled spring carriage, a gig, a spring-cart. Cf. RATTLETRAP 2.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, VI. Introd. Bidding a long adieu to Bedlam in the shape of an inn … and a travelling trap for a sitting room.
1818. in Illustr. Lond. News (1884), 4 Oct., 315/3. His ‘trap’ was at the lodge, and … he must be off.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxvi. ‘Hullo!’ said he, ‘there’s Dob’s trap.’… The ‘trap’ in question was a carriage which the Major had bought for six pounds sterling.
1873. M. Collins, Squire Silchester, III. xiv. 143. Come with me to the stables. I’ll have a trap out and drive to the Rectory.
1902. Buchan, Watcher by Threshold, 194. A trap shall be sent for you after dinner.
8. A device for preventing the upward escape of noxious gases from a pipe, as a double curve in or U-shaped section of the pipe, in which water stands.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 464. No smell can penetrate upwards, it being intercepted by the trap and the water into which it dips.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. x. 46. Traps to prevent effluvia from drains and gulleys. Ibid., xxxi. 24. Surface gutter with movable safety covers, sanitary traps.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 49/2. Water Closet of improved manufacture, ornamental bason and trap.
1892. D trap [see D I. 2].
b. Applied to various contrivances for preventing the passage of steam, water, silt, etc. Also, a ventilation door in a mine.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Steam-trap, a self-acting device for the discharge of condensed water from steam-engines or steam-pipes.
1900. Dundee Advertiser, 9 June, 8. On the dead levels by the river the drainage water is run through tunnels piercing the embankments, each outlet having a trap or lock to prevent the tide from rushing up to drown the fields.
1900. Daily News, 14 Feb., 3/2. Here and there [in a coal-mine] … are placed the ventilating doorways, or traps. At each of these sits the little trapper lad alone in the silent gloom.
1911. Webster, Trap,… a device to separate sand and silt from flowing water.
9. a. A recess in the butt of a musket or rifle, in which accessories are carried.
1844. [implied in trap-plate: see 11].
1891. Magazine Rifle Firing Exerc., Aiming Drill. The oil bottle is to be carried in the trap in the butt…. Push the thong into the trap,… press down the end of the thong and close the trap.
1909. Text-bk. Small Arms, 119. The short Springfield rifle is provided with a butt trap, containing a metal oil-bottle, holding oil at one end and a pull-through at the other.
b. The part of a stake- or trap-net in which the fish are confined.
1859. Act 22 & 23 Vict., c. 70 § 12. A clear Opening of at least Three Feet in Width in the Traps or Chambers of such Stake Net from the Bottom to the Top thereof.
c. U.S. = trap-net (see 11).
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 216. Nets … similar in many respects to the so-called ‘traps’ of Seconnet River in Rhode Island.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
10. Weaving. A break in the threads of a warp; a faulty place resulting from this in woven cloth.
1871. Burnley, Phases Bradford Life (1872), 197. Ere the loom ceases its motion, what is technically termed ‘a trap’ has occurred…. A large number of ‘ends’ are broken, and must be tied neatly together again one by one before the work can proceed.
1883. Gloss. Almondbury & Huddersfield, s.v., A bad place in the cloth is the consequence, and that is also called a trap.
1891. Labour Commission Gloss., Traps, also called ‘smashes’ or ‘mashes,’ are faults in weaving caused by the shuttle becoming trapped, which will break out the twist or warp threads for several inches in the width.
11. attrib. and Comb., as trap-bait, -cage, -catch, -chair, -lid, -load, -maker, -mouth, -setter, -setting, -tooth, -way, -window; trap-like adj.; trap-bat, a bat used in playing trap or trap-ball; also, the game itself; trap-board, a perforated board in a Jacquard loom: see quot.; † trap-bridge, a drawbridge; trap-cellar, the space beneath the trap-doors in the stage of a theater; trap-creel, a basket used for catching lobsters, etc.; trap-crop, a crop planted for the purpose of attracting insects or fungus from another crop; † trap-ditch, a ditch dug as a pitfall; trap-drummer, a street musician who plays a drum and other instruments at once; trap-fisher, one who fishes with a trap-net; trap-hatch, a hatch covered with a trap or trap-door; so trap-hatchway; trap-hole, a hole closed by a trap-door; also (pl.) pits dug in the ground to serve as obstacles to an enemy, trous-de-loup; trap-hook, a fish-hook fitted with a spring snap, a snap-hook; trap-light, a light having a device for trapping moths attracted by it; trap-line, the ensnaring filament in a spider’s web; trap-match, a trap-shooting match; trap-net, a large net for catching fish: see quot. 1877; trap-pit, a deep pit in which beasts are trapped; also fig.; trap-plate, the hinged lid of the trap in a musket or rifle stock (see 9 a); trap-poacher, a poacher who traps game; trap-point, on railways, a safety-point (POINT sb. B. 3 f) that prevents an unauthorized movement of a train or vehicle from a siding on to the main line by derailing it; trap-seine (U.S.), a kind of trap-net; trap-shooter, -shot, one who practises trap-shooting; trap-shooting, the sport of shooting pigeons, glass balls, etc., released from a spring trap; trap-siding, a siding on a gradient intended to intercept vehicles that break away from an ascending train and to derail them; trap-tree, the jack-tree, Artocarpus integrifolia, which provides gum for bird-lime; also (U.S.) a tree deadened or felled at a time when destructive beetles have entered the bark; trap-twister, -winder, in Spinning, a twisting or winding machine in which the roller or bobbin is stopped by a spring arrangement as soon as the yarn breaks (cf. 10); trap-valve: see quot.; trap-weir (U.S.), a trap-net (Cent. Dict., 1891).
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxvii. 356. The foxes seem tired of touching our *trap-baits.
1849. Lytton, Caxtons, II. i. I wrote home to my father, modestly implying that I was short of cash, that a *trap-bat would be acceptable.
1865. Athenæum, 11 March, 351/1. Kites could be flown, trap-bat indulged in.
1900. T. W. Fox, Mech. Weaving, VI. (ed. 2), 143. In or about … 1830 William Jennings claimed the invention of a machine to work without hooks…. In it a neck cord … passes through a needle eye, through a perforated *trap board, that takes the place of a griffe, and is also threaded through a cross piece at the machine head where a loop is formed upon it, and a piece of twine passed through all the loops in one line, in order to prevent the cords from lifting.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 390/2. Pons versatilis, a drawbridge: a falling bridg, or a *trap bridge.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 26. A cage made upon the plan of the goldfinch *trap-cage.
1894. Youth’s Companion, 22 Nov., 562/4. For some weeks past our *trap-catch, both of eels and lobsters, had greatly diminished.
1668. Lassels, Voy. Italy (1698), II. 106. A chair of revenge, or a *trap-chair for an enemy.
1795. Statist. Acc. Scot., XVI. 516. A considerable quantity of lobsters and crabs … are taken, with *trap-creels.
1899. Massee, Plant Diseases, 26. The *trap-crop should consist of some plant readily susceptible to the disease it is intended to catch.
1657. Thornley, trans. Longus’ Daphnis & Chloe, 16. Many such *Trap-ditches were digg’d in the fields.
1890. Sandusky Register, 27 June, 6/4. The orchestra rendered a selection, in which Mr. Max Wintrich, late *trap drummer of the Cleveland theatre, introduced special features of drum music, xylophone and bell solos, which were loudly encored by the audience.
1903. Med. Record, 14 Feb., 268. Trap-drummer’s neurosis, a hitherto undescribed occupation-disease.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 204. The entrance is by a *trap-hatch at the bottom.
1903. J. Conrad & Hueffer, Romance, II. iv. He slipped down the open trap-hatch near the window.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 28 Dec., 3/2. A labouring man fell through a *trap hatchway at the house of … a baker.
1864. Webster, *Trap-hole.
1883. B. Phillips, in Century Mag., April, 899/1. I discard all *trap-hooks, infernal machines working with springs, as only adapted for the capture of land animals.
1904. Electr. World, 1 Oct., 563. Instruments … enclosed in a walnut casing with a *trap-lid.
1896. U.S. Dept. Agric., Cotton Plant, Bulletin, 331. Mally … made extensive experiments with *trap lights for the moths.
1877. A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, xii. 332. Communicate by means of *trap-like openings with vaults below.
1895. Westm. Gaz., 29 Nov., 5/1. Pointing to the small trap-like exit under the judge’s bench.
1889. H. C. McCook, Amer. Spiders, I. viii. 134. The *trapline of the Labyrinth spider differs … in being composed of several threads instead of a single line.
1894. A. Morrison, Mean Streets, 72. Helping with a heavy *trapload of luggage.
1907. Daily News, 19 Feb., 6. If there were no rats, the *trap-makers of Birmingham would be out of work.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXVII. 67/1. Expert shots assume many attitudes, as may be seen at any important *trap-match.
1894. G. Meredith, Ld. Ormont & Aminta, iv. Eyes bluish-grey … lively to shoot their meaning when the *trap-mouth was active.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Trap-net, a fishing-net in which a funnel-shaped piece leads the fish into a pound from which extrication is not easy.
1904. Gallichan, Fishing Spain, 167. Lowering and raising the trap-nets are operations attended with peril.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., X. xiii. With dimpled chins, The *trap-pits where a fondling lies.
1849. A. Blackhall, Lays of North, 84 (E.D.D.). Reckless man, who … Revell’d in hell’s trap-pit—drinking.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 106. New brass *trap plate and joint fitted to rifle.
1893. J. Watson, Conf. Poacher, 129. The *trap-poacher is only a casual.
1899. Daily News, 5 July, 3/5. A train, travelling from Blackpool to Birmingham, ran into the *trap points. Nine coaches were thrown on to an embankment.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Trap-seine, a trap-net specially adapted to take fish working down an eddy (Rhode Island).
1903. W. Blackwood, Local Veto & Bk., xvi. 40. The *trap-setters and men-catchers were rapidly hastening the dynasty of Judah to its dissolution. Ibid. What is our licensing system but a process of *trap-setting?
1899. Rider Haggard, in Longm. Mag., July, 247. The bruiser, the racing tout, the *trap-shooter and others equally ignoble are all ‘sportsmen.’
1892. Greener, Breech-Loader, 130. For ordinary *trap shooting a gun is required to shoot as closely as possible at the trap. Ibid., 94. Some *trap shots require their guns to carry as many as 6 in. high at forty yards.
1901. Daily Chron., 30 Sept., 5/1. He is reputed to be an excellent trap-shot.
1885. Manch. Exam., 19 Feb., 4/7. The engine left the line at a *trap siding and rolled down an embankment.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., I. 1298. In its [the tiger-cat’s] silkiness the *trap-teeth joined.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 237. Better than any winders for saving waste are *trap twisters where the yarn is not very soft.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Trap-valve, a valve hinged on one side of its seat, and opening and closing like a shutter or trap-door, a clack-valve.
1904. Quiller-Couch, Fort Amity, xxiii. Open the *trap-way and show us some light.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 237. There are many *trap winders for winding either single threads or two or more together.
1620. Middleton & Rowley, World Tost at Tennis, 456. His eyes look like false lights, cozening *trap-windows.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxxi. A small trap window in the roof.
[Note. The OE. treppe, træppe, and MFlem. trappe, WFlem. traap, trape, are generally held to be orig. either the same word as MDu. and MLG. trappe, ‘stair, flight of steps, step,’ or a derivative of the same verbal stem *trapp- (the non-nasalized original of *trampan to tread, LG. trappen), for the supposed reason that a ‘trap’ was originally something laid for a beast to tread or step upon, and thus to be either caught by a gin or snare, or precipitated into a deep pit (cf. PITFALL). But it is difficult to conceive trappe, treppe used at once in the general sense ‘stair or step,’ and in the very specific one of ‘trap, snare, gin.’ It has also to be noticed that it is only in MDu. or rather MFlem. that the word is known in both senses; for in OE. (and Eng. generally, down to 18th c.) træppe, trap had (like the Romanic trappa) only the sense of ‘device for catching, gin, snare,’ while MLG. trappe, treppe, and thence mod.Ger., and the Scandinavian languages, have only the sense ‘stair’ or ‘step of a stair.’ (OHG. has a single instance of trapa wk. fem. as a gloss to L. tenda, but this rather looks like an adoption or re-adoption from med.L.) The actual relation of these words or senses is thus very obscure.)
