Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Trap

Trap , transitive verb

[Akin to Old English trappe trappings, and perhaps from an Old French word of the same origin as English 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

[Swedish trapp; akin to trappa stairs, Danish trappe, German treppe, Dutch trap; -- so called because the rocks of this class often occur in large, tabular masses, rising above one another, like steps. See Tramp.]

(Geology) 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.
Collocations (1)
Trap tufa or Trap tuff , a kind of fragmental rock made up of fragments and earthy materials from trap rocks.

Trap , adjective

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

Trap , noun

[Old English trappe, Anglo-Saxon treppe; akin to OD. trappe, Old High German trapo; probably from the root of English tramp, as that which is trod upon: compare French trappe, which is trod upon: compare French 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.
Figuratively: 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. [Colloquial] — Thackeray
8.
A kind of movable stepladder. — Knight
Collocations (2)
Trap stairs , a staircase leading to a trapdoor.
Trap tree (Botany) , the jack; -- so called because it furnishes a kind of birdlime. See 1st Jack.

Trap , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon treppan. See Trap a snare.]

1.
To catch in a trap or traps; as, to trap foxes.
2.
Figuratively: 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 , intransitive verb

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