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Glite Dictionary
trapline

trapline

1 9.3
A path or area where a trapper regularly sets and checks traps to catch wild animals
  • noun
  • /ˈtræpˌlaɪn/
  • Jargon
translation icon : trampa
  • Every spring, the experienced trapper checks his trapline for signs of activity and sets new traps.
  • check the trapline
  • running a trapline
  • laying traplines

Examples

  • Checking the canyon trapline took longer.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I need to see where Alec Burns lived, where he had a trapline.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Then, we'll follow the trapline back home.

    Bones of Crows (2023)

  • Might it get as far as the trapline?

    Grey Owl (1999)

  • As I approached the end of the trapline, I still had caught nothing.

    Academic text (2003)

  • He'd been out with his old man on the trapline plenty of times.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Morning and evening, she went out and checked all three traplines.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • So, he moves out to Kolvik and starts a trapline.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He often finds the bodies of small animals eviscerated by predators out on the trapline.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Winter also brought out the trapper, to be watched from our kitchen window in the snow-roofed ranch house, tending the trapline on Faulkner Creek.

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

trap line
vstrapline
  • Jargon
1 8.9

A route of spots where people set things to catch animals and check them regularly

is the same meaning but written as one word rather than two words

Surface Forms

trapline singular
traplines plural

Morphology

trapline = trap + line (transparent) = trap + line

The meaning 'route where traps are set' is a direct and regular combination of 'trap' + 'line' (line = route), so learners can infer it from the parts.

Etymology

The word trapline comes from two simple parts, trap 'a device to catch animals' and line 'a route' or 'a row'. A helpful image is a row of traps along a path, and that's why a trapline is the regular route or area a trapper uses to set and check traps.