trap¹ / trap/ • n. 1. a device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals, typically by allowing entry but not exit or by catching hold of a part of the body. ∎  a curve in the waste pipe from a bathtub, sink, or toilet that is always full of liquid and prevents gases from coming up the pipe into the building. ∎  a container or device used to collect a specified thing: one fuel filter and water trap are sufficient on the fuel system. ∎  a bunker or other hollow on a golf course. ∎  the compartment from which a greyhound is released at the start of a race. ∎ fig. a trick by which someone is misled into giving themselves away or otherwise acting contrary to their interests or intentions: by keeping quiet I was walking into a trap. ∎ fig. an unpleasant situation from which it is hard to escape: they fell into the trap of relying too little on equity financing.2. a device for hurling an object such as a clay pigeon into the air to be shot at. ∎  (in the game of trapball) the shoe-shaped device that is hit with a bat to send the ball into the air.3. chiefly hist. a light, two-wheeled carriage pulled by a horse or pony.4. short for trapdoor.5. inf. a person's mouth (used in expressions to do with speaking): keep your trap shut!6. (usu. traps) inf. percussion instruments, typically in a jazz band.7. Baseball & Football an act of trapping the ball.• v. (trapped, trap·ping) [tr.] catch (an animal) in a trap. ∎  (often be trapped) prevent (someone) from escaping from a place: twenty workers were trapped by flames. ∎  have (something, typically a part of the body) held tightly by something so that it cannot move or be freed: he had trapped his finger in a spring-loaded hinge. ∎  induce (someone), by means of trickery or deception, to do something they would not otherwise want to do: I hoped to trap him into an admission. ∎  Baseball & Football catch (the ball) after it has briefly touched the ground. ∎  Soccer bring (the ball) under control with the feet or other part of the body on receiving it.DERIVATIVES: trap·like / -ˌlīk/ adj.

trap

trap See ANTICLINAL TRAP; FAULT TRAP; REEF TRAP; STRATIGRAPHIC TRAP; STRUCTURAL TRAP; and UNCONFORMITY TRAP.

trap A system state similar to that caused by an interrupt but synchronous to the system rather than asynchronous as in the case of an interrupt. There are a variety of conditions that can cause a trap to occur. Examples of such conditions include the attempted execution of an illegal instruction, or an attempt to access another user's resources in a system that supports multiuser protection. The attempted operation is detected by the hardware and control is transferred to a different part of the system, usually in the operating system, which can then decide on what action to take.

trap1 contrivance for catching animals OE.; movable covering as of an opening in a floor XIV; means of confining and releasing objects XVI; (perh. for rattle trap) small carriage on springs XIX. OE. træppe (in coltetræppe Christ's thorn), treppe, corr. in form and sense to MDu. trappe, medL. trappa, OF. trape (mod. trappe), but the mutual relations are obscure.
So trap vb. OE. betreppan. trapper (-ER1) XVIII.

Trap ★★ L'Aventure Sauvage 1966

A trapper buys a mute girl as his wife. Together they try to make a life for themselves in the Canadian wilderness. Fine telling of interesting western tale. Unusual and realistic. 106m/C VHS . GB CA Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed, Rex Sevenoaks; D: Sidney Hayers; C: Robert Krasker.