steel trap

noun

1. a trap for catching animals, consisting of spring-operated steel jaws with sharp projections that clamp shut.

Word History and Origins

Origin of steel trap¹

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

“He had a mind like a steel trap when it came to where everything is,” said Porter, who died in 2015.

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Also, cookbooks: Unless you have a mind like a steel trap or count shorthand among your skills, an audio cookbook is going to be frustrating.

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Granted, the second busiest airport in the nation, built in a sprawling, car-dependent city and perpetually under construction, often feels like a steel trap for traffic, especially during the holidays.

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But Olivia's circumstances are that of animal in a steel trap that keeps closing tighter and tighter.

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Douglass, who disapproved of the use of violence, wrote that he had warned Brown that “he was going into a perfect steel trap, and that once in he would never get out alive.”

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