Trap (?), v. 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.
© Webster 1913.
Trap, n. [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.
© Webster 1913.
Trap, a.
Of or pertaining to trap rock; as, a trap dike.
© Webster 1913.
Trap, n. [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!
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.]
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.
© Webster 1913.
Trap (?), v. 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; to trap a drain; to trap a sewer pipe. See 4th Trap, 5.
© Webster 1913.
Trap, v. i.
To set traps for game; to make a business of trapping game; as, to trap for beaver.
© Webster 1913.