mousetrap

[mous-trap] /ˈmaʊsˌtræp/
noun
1.
a trap for mice, especially one consisting of a rectangular wooden base on which a metal spring is mounted.
2.
a device, machine, or the like whose structure or function suggests a trap for mice.
3.
a device, system, or stratagem for detecting and catching someone in an unauthorized or illegal act.
4.
Football. trap1 (def 11).
verb (used with object), mousetrapped, mousetrapping.
5.
Informal.
  1. to trap or snare:
    traffic cops mousetrapping drunken drivers.
  2. to manipulate by devious or clever means; trick or outwit:
    to mousetrap the witness into a contradiction.
6.
Football. trap1 (def 20).
Idioms
7.
build a better mousetrap, to make or offer a superior product.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English mous trappe. See mouse, trap1
Examples from the web for mousetrap
  • As legislatures call for accountability-and even for publishing teacher ratings, researchers try to build a better mousetrap.
  • In the last five or six years, it became evident that building a better mousetrap wasn't enough.
  • It should come as no surprise that some of the high-tech new rich have tried to invent a better mousetrap for managing money.
  • But over the years some have come to see them as more of a mousetrap.
  • mousetrap cars are an old standby for science projects in grade school.
  • Simply building a better mousetrap doesn't mean anyone will use it.
  • Go ahead and design one, and if it's a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.
  • So you have built the better mousetrap--the world's best mousetrap, you think.
  • The maker of the better mousetrap may be in real trouble if the other fellow has the bigger ad budget.
  • But its makers have built a better mousetrap in a number of important ways.
British Dictionary definitions for mousetrap

mousetrap

/ˈmaʊsˌtræp/
noun
1.
any trap for catching mice, esp one with a spring-loaded metal bar that is released by the taking of the bait
2.
(Brit, informal) cheese of indifferent quality
Word Origin and History for mousetrap
n.

late 15c., from mouse (n.) + trap (n.). Figurative use from 1570s. The thing is older than the word. Old English had musfealle; Middle English had mouscacche (late 14c.).

Slang definitions & phrases for mousetrap

mousetrap

noun

A small, inferior theater or nightclub: He walked out on the stage of a mousetrap called the Blue Angel (1950s+)

verb

To trick someone into a trap, esp by various feints (1950s+ Sports)