trapdoor

Or trap door

[trap-dawr, -dohr]

noun

1. a door flush with the surface of a floor, ceiling, or roof.

2. the opening that it covers.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or like a trapdoor.

Word History and Origins

Origin of trapdoor¹

First recorded in 1325–75, trapdoor is from Middle English trappe dore. See trap ¹, door

Example Sentences

Apart from the first 51 days of his captivity, during which he and an abducted Thai worker are held in the private house of a Gazan family, Mr. Sharabi spends all his time as a hostage in two different tunnels, the first of which he enters from a trapdoor under a rug in a mosque, the second from an entrance in the floor of a house.

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The civil judgement said entry was via a trapdoor and a 60m-long curved concrete tunnel.

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She knows the location of the hidden trapdoor that leads to the rafters of the arch above the nave.

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That relegation trapdoor might be creaking open for Carlisle...

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Reading need them to keep the trapdoor to League Two firmly shut.

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Related Words

• side door www.thesaurus.com