Trap

• trap [countable]
• 1

  for animals

  a piece of equipment for catching animals:
• The only way to catch mice is to set a trap.
• He stepped into a bear trap covered in snow.
• ➔ mousetrap
• 2

  clever trick

  a clever trick that is used to catch someone or to make them do or say something that they did not intend to
• lay/set a trap (for somebody)
• Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories.
• fall/walk into a trap
• Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match.
• 3

  bad situation

  an unpleasant or difficult situation that is difficult to escape from:
• Amanda felt that marriage was a trap.
• debt/unemployment etc trap
• people caught in the unemployment trap
• 4

   fall into/avoid the trap of doing something

  to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible or wise, or to avoid doing this:
• Don't fall into the trap of investing all your money in one place.
• 5

   keep your trap shut

  spoken a rude way of telling someone to not say anything about things that are secret:
• Just keep your trap shut.
• 6

   shut your trap!

  spoken a rude way of telling someone to stop talking
• 7

  vehicle

  a vehicle with two wheels, pulled by a horse
• 8

  sport

  American English sandtrap [= bunker British English]
• 9

  dog race

  a special gate from which a greyhound is set free at the beginning of a race
• ➔ booby trap, death trap

   ; ➔ poverty trap

   at poverty (3), speed trap, tourist trap
• Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 
  Advanced Learner's Dictionary.