noun
Etymology
Origin of trapper
Explanation
A trapper is a person who hunts animals using snares or traps. When Europeans first colonized North America, trappers often traded animal furs and skins with Native people. When you imagine a trapper, you may think of Davy Crockett and his famous coonskin cap, made from the skin, fur, and entire tail of a trapped raccoon. Today's trappers may dress differently, but they still hunt or capture animals using a variety of traps. Some trappers work removing garden pests like squirrels and groundhogs, while others hunt for food or fur.
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.
Even a black-and-white, near-silent slapstick comedy about a 19th century trapper battling beavers.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2024
But back in 1831, he found himself rather hard up in L.A., and took work as a shipbuilder and trapper.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2024
He says an old trapper there taught him the Indigenous method of making buckskin leather by soaking hides in animal brains and tanning them using wood smoke.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 14, 2023
Mr. Fitzsimons, a recreational trapper, was also carrying a six-foot-long unstrung archery bow and a fur pelt draped across his neck.
From New York Times • Jul. 13, 2023
A trapper, the pitchman of a medicine show.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
