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Glite Dictionary
🪤 A trigger wire ⚡ A trigger event 🖥️ A security tool 🪤 To set a trigger
to tripwire

to tripwire

7.7
To set a wire to trigger an alarm when moved
  • verb
  • /ˈtrɪpˌwaɪər/
: colocar un hilo trampa
  • Before leaving, she decided to tripwire the security system to alert her if anyone tried to enter.

Examples

  • The technician needs to tripwire the alarm so it activates when the door opens.

  • You did tripwire the mine.

    The Big Red One (1980)

  • The soldier had to tripwire the explosives carefully to avoid any accidents.

Surface Forms

tripwire infinitive
tripwired past
tripwired past participle
tripwiring present participle
tripwires third person singular

Morphology

tripwire = tripwire (transparent) = trip + wire

The verb is a direct conversion from the noun 'tripwire', with the meaning built straightforwardly from the compound.

Etymology

Tripwire as a verb comes from the original device idea: to tripwire a place is to put a thin wire or device so that touching it will set off an alarm or response. So to tripwire something means to set a simple trap or warning that will 'trip' if it is disturbed.