mousetrap

[ mous-trap ]
See synonyms for: mousetrapmousetrappedmousetrapping on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a trap for mice, especially one consisting of a rectangular wooden base on which a metal spring is mounted.

  2. a device, machine, or the like whose structure or function suggests a trap for mice.

  1. a device, system, or stratagem for detecting and catching someone in an unauthorized or illegal act.

  2. Football. trap1 (def. 12).

verb (used with object),mouse·trapped, mouse·trap·ping.
  1. Informal.

    • to trap or snare: traffic cops mousetrapping drunken drivers.

    • to manipulate by devious or clever means; trick or outwit: to mousetrap the witness into a contradiction.

  2. Football. trap1 (def. 24).

Idioms about mousetrap

  1. build a better mousetrap, to make or offer a superior product.

Origin of mousetrap

1
First recorded in 1400–50, mousetrap is from late Middle English mous trappe. See mouse, trap1

Words Nearby mousetrap

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mousetrap in a sentence

  • The players enter and plan with Hamlet the performance of The mousetrap.

    Dramatic Technique | George Pierce Baker
  • It's probably not much more than a better mousetrap, but you want to believe it is, don't you?

    My Shipmate--Columbus | Stephen Wilder
  • It is another to say (in the face of ocular experience) that the mousetrap runs after the mouse.

    George Bernard Shaw | Gilbert K. Chesterton
  • "And yet here I die in a mousetrap—with no more noise about it than my own squeaking," answered he.

    The Short-story | William Patterson Atkinson

British Dictionary definitions for mousetrap

mousetrap

/ (ˈmaʊsˌtræp) /


noun
  1. any trap for catching mice, esp one with a spring-loaded metal bar that is released by the taking of the bait

  2. British informal cheese of indifferent quality

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012