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snare1

[snair]
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noun
  1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.
  2. anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.
  3. Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumors or the like by the roots or at the base.
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verb (used with object), snared, snar·ing.
  1. to catch with a snare; entangle.
  2. to catch or involve by trickery or wile: to snare her into going.
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Origin of snare1

before 1100; Middle English (noun and v.); cognate with Old Norse snara, Middle Low German snare, Old High German snar(a)ha
Related formssnare·less, adjectivesnar·er, nounsnar·ing·ly, adverbun·snared, adjective

Synonyms

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1. See trap1. 2. net, seine.

snare2

[snair]
noun
  1. one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiraled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.
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Origin of snare2

1680–90; < Middle Low German snare or Middle Dutch snaer string; replacing Old English snēr string of a musical instrument
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for snare

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • You are, indeed, fortunate in having escaped from the snare he laid for you.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • And when he saw I was not to be led, he endeavoured to drive me into the snare.

    The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, Complete

    Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

  • Which does not mean, however, that they are far from the snare.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • It is a snare in which souls of average virtue often become entangled.

  • Let not his natural affections be as the snare of the fowler unto his feet.

    The Manxman

    Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for snare

snare1

noun
  1. a device for trapping birds or small animals, esp a flexible loop that is drawn tight around the prey
  2. a surgical instrument for removing certain tumours, consisting of a wire loop that may be drawn tight around their base to sever or uproot them
  3. anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares
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verb (tr)
  1. to catch (birds or small animals) with a snare
  2. to catch or trap in or as if in a snare; capture by trickery
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Derived Formssnareless, adjectivesnarer, noun

Word Origin

Old English sneare, from Old Norse snara; related to Old High German snaraha

snare2

noun
  1. music a set of gut strings wound with wire fitted against the lower drumhead of a snare drum. They produce a rattling sound when the drum is beatenSee snare drum
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Word Origin

C17: from Middle Dutch snaer or Middle Low German snare string; related to Gothic snōrjō basket
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

Word Origin and History for snare

n.1

"noose for catching animals," late Old English, from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse snara "noose, snare," related to soenri "twisted rope," from Proto-Germanic *snarkho (cf. Middle Dutch snare, Dutch snaar, Old High German snare, German Schnur "noose, cord," Old English snear "a string, cord"). Figuratively from c.1300.

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n.2

"string across a drum," 1680s, probably from Dutch snaar "string," from same source as snare (n.1). From 1938 as short for snare-drum (1873).

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v.

late 14c., "to ensnare," from snare (n.1). Related: Snared; snaring.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
snare in Medicine

snare

(snâr)
n.
  1. A surgical instrument with a wire loop controlled by a mechanism in the handle, used to remove growths, such as tumors and polyps.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.