[f. TRAP sb.1 + FALL sb.2: cf. PITFALL sb.] A trap consisting of a trap-door or covering over a pit or cellar arranged so as to give way beneath the feet. Also fig.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. ii. 7. In the same are many trap-fals pight. Through which the rider downe doth fall through oversight.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 373. Avoide these damnable trap-falls of the devill.
1797. Holcroft, trans. Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), III. lxxxvi. 132. She is accused of having contrived a trap-fall, in this palace.
1853. Fraser’s Mag., XLVIII. 347. A manager, who entertains higher notions of his art … than that of a mere snare or trap-fall for audiences.
