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
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
When Mamma loses Philbert in a department store she finds him in the rattrap department, inside a trap.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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.
