rattrap
Americannoun
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a device for catching rats.
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a run-down, filthy, or dilapidated place.
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a difficult, involved, or entangling situation.
Etymology
Origin of rattrap
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While cleaning it I found lots of matches, a cap, and a rattrap.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 15, 2017
In San Jose, Calif., a new electric rattrap was demonstrated: the rat walked in, the door banged shut, the machine buzzed threateningly, the door opened, the rat walked out.
From Time Magazine Archive
When Mamma loses Philbert in a department store she finds him in the rattrap department, inside a trap.
From Time Magazine Archive
Today his is the crucial job of clamping the lid on the Germans caught in the southern rattrap.
From Time Magazine Archive
I always furnish the guest a rattrap for his room, free of charge.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
