booby trap
1
6.6
- noun
- /ˈbuːbi træp/
:
trampa
- Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuits... so l could never tell anybody about his booby trap!
Examples
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During the adventure, they had to navigate through several hidden booby traps that could spring at any moment.
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- I bet Maury Stern never thought one of his mannequins would end up as a booby trap, huh?
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Yes, at times you must dodge the booby traps of disagreement in order to make progress when discussing who is supposed to clean the upstairs bathroom this week or if a couple should pay two shares instead of one for cleaning supplies.
Blog text (11) -
Ewoks suck, I know, but the 7-year-old me sure wanted the village with the booby trap net and the C-3PO throne.
Blog text (26) -
(Okay, okay, if WIC service providers were setting up booby traps outside their office doors, that would count as affecting the performance of the governmental contract, even if they were setting the traps after hours.
Blog text (28) -
She had lengthened her runs and put aside all thoughts of remarrying; she was too far up the political ladder to risk allying herself to a man who might be a booby trap, with secret skeletons in his closet to drag her down.
Fiction book (1990) -
The children set a booby trap in their backyard to catch the neighborhood cat stealing their toys.
-
He was unaware of the booby trap that awaited him in the abandoned building.
Synonyms
752
2.0
A thing that catches and holds animals or tricks people
115
5.5
A hidden problem in an offer that seems good
35
4.8
An unexpected problem that is not obvious at first
25
4.6
An unexpected problem that delays a plan
22
7.7
An unexpected problem that makes a plan or situation more difficult
1
9.9
A question or problem meant to catch someone off guard
Antonyms
How Problematic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components give a useful clue: 'trap' clearly denotes something designed to catch, and 'booby' (a foolish or unwary person) signals the intended victim, so a learner can infer a trap aimed at the unwary. However, the conventionalized nuance that the trap is hidden/unexpected and that the term extends to non-literal pitfalls (e.g., contractual or procedural hazards) is not fully predictable from the parts, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Booby trap comes from the old word booby meaning 'fool' and trap meaning a hidden catch. The image is of a trick that catches someone who is not careful, so today the phrase also means a hidden problem or difficulty that surprises you.