booby trap

¹ American  

noun

1. a hidden bomb or mine so placed that it will be set off by an unsuspecting person through such means as moving an apparently harmless object.

2. any hidden trap set for an unsuspecting person.

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booby-trap ² American  

[boo-bee-trap] / ˈbu biˌtræp /

verb (used with object)

booby-trapped, booby-trapping

1. to set with or as if with a booby trap; attach a booby trap to or in.

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booby trap British  

noun

1. a hidden explosive device primed in such a way as to be set off by an unsuspecting victim

2. a trap for an unsuspecting person, esp one intended as a practical joke, such as an object balanced above a door to fall on the person who opens it

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verb

1. (tr) to set a booby trap in or on (a building or object) or for (a person)

Etymology

Origin of booby trap¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Origin of booby-trap²

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

The scene from 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark shows Indiana Jones - played by Harrison Ford - outrunning a giant boulder triggered by a booby trap, before leaping to safety.

From BBC • Dec. 31, 2025

The soldiers passed a Russian military identification document, fluttering in the wind on the lawn of a house, but did not touch it to check the name, fearing a booby trap.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 29, 2022

And he must navigate a legislative jungle that his opponents are trying to booby trap with amendments that could wreck his path to Brexit.

From Reuters • Oct. 18, 2019

The case became a sort of moral and historical booby trap, as Lipstadt and her legal team feared that it would effectively permit Irving, a lifelong Adolf Hitler admirer, to put the Holocaust on trial.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2016

The grass cut my hands up so fast I thought I had walked into a booby trap.

From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

Related Words

• land mine