Trap, n.
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! --Shak.
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.]
8. A kind of movable stepladder.
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.