trap

A trap is something designed to catch a person or animal, either figuratively or literally. (noun)

When a piece of cheese is set out to attract a mouse and then a wire snaps down to capture the mouse, this is an example of a trap.
When a plan is hatched to catch someone in wrongdoing, this is an example of a trap.

To trap is to catch someone or something. (verb)

When you capture an animal and he is unable to leave, this is an example of a situation where you trap an animal.
When you set up a situation to catch someone in a lie, this is an example of a situation where you trap the person in his own lie.
When the water in a pipe prevents the escape of offensive sewer gas odors, this is an example of how you trap odors.

See trap in Webster's New World College Dictionary

See trap in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(trăp)

noun

A contrivance for catching and holding animals, as a concealed pit or a clamplike device that springs shut suddenly.
A stratagem for catching or tricking an unwary person.
A confining or undesirable circumstance from which escape or relief is difficult: fell into poverty's trap.
A device for sealing a passage against the escape of gases, especially a U-shaped or S-shaped bend in a drainpipe that prevents the return flow of sewer gas by means of a water barrier.
Sports
a. A device that hurls clay pigeons into the air in trapshooting.
b. A land hazard or bunker on a golf course; a sand trap.
c. traps A measured length of roadway over which electronic timers register the speed of a racing vehicle, such as a dragster.
Baseball See web.
Sports
a. A defensive strategy or play, as in basketball or hockey, in which two or more defenders converge on an offensive player shortly after the player gains possession of the ball or puck.
b. The act of trapping a soccer ball.
Football A running play in which the ball carrier advances through a hole in the defensive line created by allowing a defensive lineman to penetrate the backfield.
A light two-wheeled carriage with springs.
A trapdoor.
traps Music Percussion instruments, such as snare drums and cymbals, especially in a jazz band.
Slang The human mouth.

verb trapped trapped, trap·ping, traps

verb, transitive

To catch in a trap; ensnare. See Synonyms at catch.
To prevent from escaping or getting free: was trapped in the locked attic.
To deceive or trick by mans of a scheme or plan.
To seal off (gases) by a trap.
To furnish with traps or a trap.
Sports
a. To catch (a ball) immediately after it has hit the ground.
b. To gain control of (a moving soccer ball) by allowing it to hit and bounce off a part of the body other than the arm or hand.

verb, intransitive