mousetrap
a trap for mice, especially one consisting of a rectangular wooden base on which a metal spring is mounted.
a device, machine, or the like whose structure or function suggests a trap for mice.
a device, system, or stratagem for detecting and catching someone in an unauthorized or illegal act.
Football. trap1 (def. 12).
Informal.
to trap or snare: traffic cops mousetrapping drunken drivers.
to manipulate by devious or clever means; trick or outwit: to mousetrap the witness into a contradiction.
Football. trap1 (def. 24).
Idioms about mousetrap
build a better mousetrap, to make or offer a superior product.
Origin of mousetrap
1Words Nearby mousetrap
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use mousetrap in a sentence
Meanwhile, 3D imagery across various screens is sharp, and superfans will appreciate experiencing new material from the Ratatouille world, as Linguini ushers you into a hidey hole or Skinner’s finger gets caught in a mousetrap.
I Rode the New Ratatouille Ride at Disney World Before Everyone Else and It Smelled Amazing | Amanda Kludt | September 30, 2021 | EaterEven in this new world, it is not illegal to become hugely successful by building the proverbial better mousetrap.
What does breaking up Big Tech really mean? | James Surowiecki | June 30, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewIt was a “mousetrap,” he said, for the women who were already getting blowouts daily because of the speed and environment.
Blow Dry Bars Are a Thriving Industry Disrupting the Salon Business | Kelsey Meany | July 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTACME has a mousetrap division that is not performing very well.
“And yet here I die in a mousetrap—with no more noise about it than my own squeaking,” answered he.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25) | Robert Louis Stevenson
The players enter and plan with Hamlet the performance of The mousetrap.
Dramatic Technique | George Pierce BakerIt's probably not much more than a better mousetrap, but you want to believe it is, don't you?
My Shipmate--Columbus | Stephen WilderIt is another to say (in the face of ocular experience) that the mousetrap runs after the mouse.
George Bernard Shaw | Gilbert K. Chesterton"And yet here I die in a mousetrap—with no more noise about it than my own squeaking," answered he.
The Short-story | William Patterson Atkinson
British Dictionary definitions for mousetrap
/ (ˈmaʊsˌtræp) /
any trap for catching mice, esp one with a spring-loaded metal bar that is released by the taking of the bait
British informal cheese of indifferent quality
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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