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.
any hidden trap set for an unsuspecting person.
a hidden explosive device primed in such a way as to be set off by an unsuspecting victim
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
First recorded in 1840–50
First recorded in 1940–45
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“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
Dine-ba-whoa-blehi, “man trap,” was our word for a booby trap.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
Mr. Pompeo’s other measures have a similar booby-trap quality.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2021
Levi had triggered a booby-trap planted in the wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2016
After police sealed off the area and ensured there was no booby-trap, the vehicle was towed away for forensic examination.
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2015
The U.S. calls this the “the booby-trap bond” – a $3 billion issue due to Russian bond holders Dec. 2015.
From Forbes ● Dec. 12, 2014
Even if he has only a match and a can of Coca-Cola and a stick of mint gum, he can use them to booby-trap the bad guys and escape.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Brigadier General Iddo Mizrahi, chief of Israel's military engineers, said troops were in a first stage of opening access routes in Gaza but were encountering mines and booby-traps.
From Reuters ● Nov. 2, 2023
Frank falls into one of Bill's booby-traps after years of Bill living a safe — and totally solitary — life.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2023
Knowing how to spot booby-traps that could shatter their lives again is a necessary skill, she said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
A: If you insist on getting the car, you need to close the deal with Dad and drive away before he realizes what you’re up to and booby-traps the car.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2015
Through booby-traps of half-open doors, on the lintel of which were perched pans full of live crabs or little boxes of mice.
From Ptomaine Street by Wells, Carolyn
The best weapon in the “Jackass’” arsenal isn’t the taser, the beehive or the booby-trapped latrine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
But these nefarious prompts can also be hiding out on the internet as AI agents built into browsers encounter online data of dubious quality or origin, and potentially booby-trapped with hidden commands from hackers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2025
Standing ovations on Broadway are so common you might imagine the seats have been booby-trapped to eject patrons as the curtain calls begin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Calling Milley "unflinching in the face of danger," Biden said he "once ran across a bridge booby-trapped with mines to stop two battle tanks evacuating wounded troops from driving across it."
From Reuters ● Sep. 29, 2023
It was as though she sensed her own was booby-trapped.
From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
I say “may” because “No Bears,” ingeniously constructed so as to continually reveal new layers of suspense and surprise, delights in withholding information and booby-trapping our assumptions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
Like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, he spends the rest of the night booby-trapping his fortress.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 5, 2011
Often, by the time the nearest army unit hears about an attack, the Viet Cong have already fled, and they make pursuit more difficult by booby-trapping the jungle trails behind them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Contemplating all this, the cynical wondered if Earl wasn't booby-trapping himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
Isaura’s true love tries to defend her, but without knowledge of booby-trapping, he fails, and Leoncio drags her back to his mansion.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
