snare

¹ American  

[snair] / snɛər /

noun

1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.

2. anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.

   Synonyms:

   pitfall, net

3. Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumors or the like by the roots or at the base.

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verb (used with object)

snared, snaring

1. to catch with a snare; entangle.

2. to catch or involve by trickery or wile.

   to snare her into going.

snare ² American  

[snair] / snɛər /

noun

1. one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiraled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.

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snare ¹ British  

/ snɛə /

noun

1. a device for trapping birds or small animals, esp a flexible loop that is drawn tight around the prey

2. a surgical instrument for removing certain tumours, consisting of a wire loop that may be drawn tight around their base to sever or uproot them

3. anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares

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verb

1. to catch (birds or small animals) with a snare

2. to catch or trap in or as if in a snare; capture by trickery

snare ² British  

/ snɛə /

noun

1. music a set of gut strings wound with wire fitted against the lower drumhead of a snare drum. They produce a rattling sound when the drum is beaten See snare drum

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Related Words

See trap ¹.

Other Word Forms

• snareless adjective
• snarer noun
• snaringly adverb
• unsnared adjective

Etymology

Origin of snare¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English (noun and verb); cognate with Old Norse snara, Middle Low German snare, Old High German snar(a)ha

Origin of snare²

1680–90; < Middle Low German snare or Middle Dutch snaer string; replacing Old English snēr string of a musical instrument

Example Sentences

It’s just this saxophone blaring through what sounds like a distorted snare head.

From Los Angeles Times

On Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out, she even tuned her snare drum to match the "iconic" thwack of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

From BBC

The script never varies: He vows to snare the bad guys.

From Los Angeles Times

Beowulf shinnied up the tree in which the snare was set and quickly cut the admiral down by gnawing through the rope with his teeth.

From Literature

The greatest threat these large carnivores face is habitat loss, while snaring and a declining prey base also play a role.

From BBC

Related Words

• corral
• enmesh
• entangle
• pull in
• round up