trap¹ (trăp)

---

[Middle English, from Old English træppe.]

noun 

1. A contrivance for catching and holding animals, as a concealed pit or a clamplike device that springs shut suddenly.
2. A stratagem for catching or tricking an unwary person.
3. A confining or undesirable circumstance from which escape or relief is difficult: fell into poverty's trap.
4. A device for sealing a passage against the escape of gases, especially a U-shaped or S-shaped bend in a drainpipe that prevents the return flow of sewer gas by means of a water barrier.
5. Sports
   1. A device that hurls clay pigeons into the air in trapshooting.
   2. A land hazard or bunker on a golf course; a sand trap.
   3. traps. A measured length of roadway over which electronic timers register the speed of a racing vehicle, such as a dragster.
6. Baseball See web
7. Sports
   1. A defensive strategy or play, as in basketball or hockey, in which two or more defenders converge on an offensive player shortly after the player gains possession of the ball or puck.
   2. The act of trapping a soccer ball.
8. Football A running play in which the ball carrier advances through a hole in the defensive line created by allowing a defensive lineman to penetrate the backfield.
9. A light two-wheeled carriage with springs.
10. A trapdoor.
11. Music Percussion instruments, such as snare drums and cymbals, especially in a jazz band.
12. Slang The human mouth.

verb: trapped, trap·ping, traps. 

transitive verb 

1. To catch in a trap; ensnare. See synonyms at catch
2. To prevent from escaping or getting free: was trapped in the locked attic.
3. To deceive or trick by mans of a scheme or plan.
4. To seal off (gases) by a trap.
5. To furnish with traps or a trap.
6. Sports
   1. To catch (a ball) immediately after it has hit the ground.
   2. To gain control of (a moving soccer ball) by allowing it to hit and bounce off a part of the body other than the arm or hand.

intransitive verb 

1. To set traps for game.
2. To engage in trapping furbearing animals.

trap² (trăp)

---

Informal [Middle English trap, trapping, perhaps alteration of Old French drap, cloth, from Late Latin drappus.]

noun 

Personal belongings or household goods. Often used in the plural.

transitive verb: trapped, trap·ping, traps. 

To furnish with trappings.

trap³ (trăp)

---

[Swedish trapp, from trappa, step, from Middle Low German trappe.]

noun 

Any of several dark, fine-grained igneous rocks often used in making roads.

web (wĕb)

---

[Middle English, from Old English.]

noun 

1. 1. A woven fabric, especially one on a loom or just removed from it.
   2. The structural part of cloth.
2. A latticed or woven structure: A web of palm branches formed the roof of the hut.
3. A structure of delicate, threadlike filaments characteristically spun by spiders or certain insect larvae.
4. Something intricately contrived, especially something that ensnares or entangles: caught in a web of lies.
5. A complex, interconnected structure or arrangement: a web of telephone wires.
6. The World Wide Web.
7. A radio or television network.
8. A membrane or fold of skin connecting the toes, as of certain amphibians, birds, and mammals.
9. The barbs on each side of the shaft of a bird's feather; a vane.
10. Baseball A piece of leather or leather mesh that fills the space between the thumb and forefinger of a baseball glove. Also called trap¹, webbing
11. Architecture A space or compartment between the ribs or groins of a vault. Also called cell
12. A metal sheet or plate connecting the heavier sections, ribs, or flanges of a structural element.
13. A thin metal plate or strip, as the bit of a key or the blade of a saw.
14. A large continuous roll of paper, such as newsprint, either in the process of manufacture or as it is fed into a web press.

transitive verb: webbed, web·bing, webs. 

1. To provide with a web.
2. To cover or envelop with a web.
3. To ensnare in a web.

usage note

Usage Note: The word Web is usually capitalized when referring to the World Wide Web: Many sites on the Web have information about used cars. In this use, however, the word is increasingly found lowercase, and this usage may become dominant. See Usage Note at: website