man-trap
Americannoun
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an outdoor trap set for humans, as to snare poachers or trespassers.
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Slang. a woman who is purported to be dangerously seductive or who schemes in her amours; femme fatale.
Etymology
Origin of man-trap
First recorded in 1765–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A man-trap involves bulletproof glass doors that control the entrance to the bank.
From Washington Times • Jun. 11, 2016
In a dark corner there lies a singular-looking piece of mechanism, a relic of the olden times, which when dragged into the light turns out to be a man-trap.
From The Gamekeeper At Home Sketches of Natural History and Rural Life by Jefferies, Richard
Frequent were the meetings of Messrs. Gallowsworthy and Pickles and their man-trap, and as frequent their disappointments:—Fitzflam always gave them the double!
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 30, 1841 by Various
The narrator was not the owner of the man-trap described previously.
From The Gamekeeper At Home Sketches of Natural History and Rural Life by Jefferies, Richard
He was a young man with heavy brows and a large mouth devoid of lips, set tight as a snapped man-trap.
From The Broom-Squire by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
