[f. TRAP sb.1 + STICK sb.] A stick used in the game of trap or trap-ball.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Paleta, a trapsticke, Bacillum lusorium.
a. 1627. Middleton & Rowley, Span. Gipsy, II. ii. If my woods, being cut down, can not fill this pocket, cut ’em into trap sticks.
1629. Shirley, Wedding, III. ii. A boy of seven years old beat him with a trap-stick.
1764. T. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), I. 272. On high In air he let his trapstick fly.
1862. Marsh, Lect. Eng. Lang., 40. A mahogany box,… with … several trap sticks projecting through slots in the top of it.
b. transf. and fig.
1680. Honest Hodge & Ralph, 14. A meer trap-stick to bang the Phanaticks about.
1714. Addison, Spect., No. 59, ¶ 6. A foolish Swop between a Couple of thick bandy Legs, and two long Trapsticks that had no Calls to them.
1796. Grose’s Dict. Vulg. T., Trap Sticks, thin legs, gambs.
