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Glite Dictionary
🌲 Fallen trees 🪤 A heavy trap
deadfall

deadfall

1 8.5
A trap with a heavy rock that falls to catch or kill an animal
  • noun
  • /ˈdɛdˌfɔl/
translation icon : trampa de caída
  • Rule of thumb with a deadfall is you set the weight five times that of the target animal.
  • deadfall trap

Examples

  • The deadfall and the sticks of the figure four followed it, vanishing in puffs of snow.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Each weekday, we will be posting an article on different methods for setting snares, traps, deadfalls, and other related information.

    Blog text (3)

  • If that supporting branch were cut away, this fallen tree would make a perfect Malay deadfall.

    The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

  • Old Crabtree might have set some traps, like the deadfall in our woodlot that conked Pa on the head.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The hunter set a deadfall trap to catch rabbits in the forest.

  • After reading about methods of trapping, he decided to build a deadfall using a heavy rock and a stick.

  • Many wildlife biologists study how effective deadfalls are for catching animals in remote areas.

Synonyms

snare
vsdeadfall
8 5.2

A trap with a noose used to catch small animals or birds

uses a heavy falling object rather than a loop to trap or kill
gin
vsdeadfall
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A trap with a slip noose used to catch birds or small animals

uses a heavy falling object rather than a slipping loop to trap or kill
springe
vsdeadfall
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A trap for catching small animals like rabbits

uses a heavy falling object rather than a small loop to trap or kill
pitfall
vsdeadfall
1 5.2

A hidden hole in the ground that traps animals or people

uses a heavy falling object rather than a dug hole to trap or kill
steel trap
vsdeadfall
1 7.5

A metal device with strong springs and sharp jaws that catches animals

uses a heavy falling object rather than clamping jaws to trap or kill
monkey trap
vsdeadfall
1 9.1

A tool used to catch monkeys by giving them bait they cannot remove

uses a heavy falling object rather than a baited capture to trap or kill

Antonyms

to release
∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

to liberate
104 4.3

Set someone free from prison or unfair control

How Lethal

booby trap
  • Specialized
20 7.0
deadfall
1 8.5
to springe
  • Archaic
9.9
snare
8 5.2

Surface Forms

deadfall singular
deadfalls plural

Morphology

deadfall = dead + fall (semi-transparent) = dead + fall

The components 'dead' and 'fall' are clear, but the specific specialized sense 'a trap using a heavy falling object' is not a generalised meaning that learners would automatically derive.

Etymology

Deadfall is made of dead ('no longer alive') and fall ('to drop'). It was first used for a simple trap where a heavy log or rock 'falls' onto an animal and makes it dead, so a deadfall is a trap that works by a falling weight.