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Webster 1913 Edition

Trap

Trap

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Trapped
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Trapping
.]
[Akin to OE.
trappe
trappings, and perhaps from an Old French word of the same origin as E.
drab
a kind of cloth.]
To dress with ornaments; to adorn; – said especially of horses.
Steeds . . . that
trapped
were in steel all glittering.
Chaucer.
To deck his hearse, and
trap
his tomb-black steed.
Spenser.
There she found her palfrey
trapped

In purple blazoned with armorial gold.
Tennyson.

Trap

,
Noun.
[Sw.
trapp
; akin to
trappa
stairs, Dan.
trappe
, G.
treppe
, D.
trap
; – so called because the rocks of this class often occur in large, tabular masses, rising above one another, like steps. See
Tramp
.]
(Geol.)
An old term rather loosely used to designate various dark-colored, heavy igneous rocks, including especially the feldspathic-augitic rocks, basalt, dolerite, amygdaloid, etc., but including also some kinds of diorite. Called also
trap rock
.
Trap tufa
,
Trap tuff
,
a kind of fragmental rock made up of fragments and earthy materials from trap rocks.

Trap

,
Adj.
Of or pertaining to trap rock;
as, a
trap
dike
.

Trap

,
Noun.
[OE.
trappe
, AS.
treppe
; akin to OD.
trappe
, OHG.
trapo
; probably fr. the root of E.
tramp
, as that which is trod upon: cf. F.
trappe
, which is trod upon: cf. F.
trappe
, which perhaps influenced the English word.]
1.
A machine or contrivance that shuts suddenly, as with a spring, used for taking game or other animals;
as, a
trap
for foxes
.
She would weep if that she saw a mouse
Caught in a
trap
.
Chaucer.
2.
Fig.: A snare; an ambush; a stratagem; any device by which one may be caught unawares.
Let their table be made a snare and a
trap
.
Rom. xi. 9.
God and your majesty
Protect mine innocence, or I fall into
The
trap
is laid for me!
Shakespeare
3.
A wooden instrument shaped somewhat like a shoe, used in the game of trapball. It consists of a pivoted arm on one end of which is placed the ball to be thrown into the air by striking the other end. Also, a machine for throwing into the air glass balls, clay pigeons, etc., to be shot at.
4.
The game of trapball.
5.
A bend, sag, or partitioned chamber, in a drain, soil pipe, sewer, etc., arranged so that the liquid contents form a seal which prevents passage of air or gas, but permits the flow of liquids.
6.
A place in a water pipe, pump, etc., where air accumulates for want of an outlet.
7.
A wagon, or other vehicle.
[Colloq.]
Thackeray.
8.
A kind of movable stepladder.
Knight.
Trap stairs
,
a staircase leading to a trapdoor.
–
Trap tree
(Bot.)
the jack; – so called because it furnishes a kind of birdlime. See 1st
Jack
.

Trap

,
Verb.
T.
[AS.
treppan
. See
Trap
a snare.]
1.
To catch in a trap or traps;
as, to
trap
foxes
.
2.
Fig.: To insnare; to take by stratagem; to entrap.
“I trapped the foe.”
Dryden.
3.
To provide with a trap;
as, to
trap
a drain; to
trap
a sewer pipe
. See 4th
Trap
, 5.

Trap

,
Verb.
I.
To set traps for game; to make a business of trapping game;
as, to
trap
for beaver
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Trap

TRAP

, n.
1.
An engine that shuts suddenly or with a spring, used for taking game; as a trap for foxes. A trap is a very different thing from a snare; though the latter word may be used in a figurative sense for a trap.
2.
An engine for catching men. [Not used in the U. States.]
3.
An ambush; a stratagem; any device by which men or other animals may be caught unawares.
Let their table be made a snare and a trap. Rom.11.
4.
A play in which a ball is driven with a stick.

TRAP

,
Noun.
In mineralogy, a name given to rocks characterized by a columnar form, or whose strata or beds have the form of steps or a series of stairs. Kirwan gives this name to two families of basalt. It is now employed to designate a rock or aggregate in which hornblend predominates, but it conveys no definite idea of any one species; and under this term are comprehended hornblend, hornblend slate, greenstone, greenstone slate, amygdaloid, basalt, wacky, clinkstone porphyry, and perhaps hypersthene rock, augite rock, and some varieties of sienite.

TRAP

,
Verb.
T.
To catch in a trap; as, to trap foxes or beaver.
1.
To ensnare; to take by stratagem.
I trapp'd the foe.
2.
To adorn; to dress with ornaments. [See Trappings.] [the verb is little used.]

TRAP

,
Verb.
I.
To set traps for game; as, to trap for beaver.

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