mousetrap
noun
- trap for catching mice
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈmaʊsˌtɹæp/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English mouse-trappe, mous trappe, mouse trape, equivalent to mouse + trap. Cognate with Dutch muizetrap, muizentrap (“mousetrap”), German Low German Muustrappe, Muustrapp (“mousetrap”). In the Internet sense, refers to a computer mouse.
- A device for capturing or killing mice and other rodents.
- A website designed to open another copy of itself when the user tries to close the webpage.
- Ordinary, everyday cheese.
- A slice of bread or toast topped with cheese and then grilled or microwaved.
- An antisubmarine rocket used mainly during World War II by the US Navy and US Coast Guard.
“Besides depth charges, they were armed with smaller forward firing antisubmarine rocket launchers called mousetraps. Fired in groups, these rockets detonated when they contacted a submarine.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English mouse-trappe, mous trappe, mouse trape, equivalent to mouse + trap. Cognate with Dutch muizetrap, muizentrap (“mousetrap”), German Low German Muustrappe, Muustrapp (“mousetrap”). In the Internet sense, refers to a computer mouse.
- To trap; to trick or fool (someone) into a bad situation.
“He hoped to bring the rebels out of their trenches for a showdown battle somewhere south of the Wilderness, that gloomy expanse of scrub oaks and pines where Lee had mousetrapped Joe Hooker exactly a year earlier.”
- To prevent (the user) from leaving a website by opening another copy when it is closed.
“The scammer is paid for each new visitor directed to his site. There is nothing wrong except that the user finds it impossible to leave the site because he is mousetrapped.”