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 Zone of Interest,” which will be released in the U.S. by A24, is as methodically engineered a cinematic booby trap — for its characters, and its audience — as anything Haneke has ever directed.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2023

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

As star pitchers go through their first few spring training games, we watch as if a bomb squad is defusing a booby trap.

From Washington Post • Mar. 12, 2014

Possibly the cup of tea was Dudley’s idea of a clever booby trap.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• land mine