snare¹

[snair] /snɛər/

noun

a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.

anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.

Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumors or the like by the roots or at the base.

verb (used with object), snared, snaring.

to catch with a snare; entangle.

to catch or involve by trickery or wile:

to snare her into going.

Origin

before 1100; Middle English (noun and v.); cognate with Old Norse snara, Middle Low German snare, Old High German snar(a)ha

Related forms

snareless, adjective

snarer, noun

snaringly, adverb

unsnared, adjective

Synonyms

1. See trap¹ . 2. net, seine.

snare²

[snair] /snɛər/

noun

one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiraled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.

Origin

1680-90; < Middle Low German snare or Middle Dutch snaer string; replacing Old English snēr string of a musical instrument

Examples from the web for snare

Eventually he would snare a small bird or two, providing a tiny bit of protein for the family pot.
In the natural world, raccoons snare a lot of their meals in the water.
As the elephants left, though, one became trapped in a snare set by a carpenter.
One elephant had lost the last part of its trunk in a snare.
He tries to snare one of the five or six invitingly swollen bags that sit in the bottom of the dumpster.
They live near water and favor coasts and lakes where fish are plentiful, though they will also snare and eat small mammals.
Parades marched by, trumpets blasting and snare drums rattling.
They often hunt in large groups, and are nimble enough to snare flying fish from the air.
When the bear spied humans approaching, it bolted-and was jerked back by the wire snare around its paw that tethered it to a tree.
The squid's tentacles are armed with suckers, each ringed with tiny teeth to help snare prey.

British Dictionary definitions for snare

snare¹

/snɛə/

noun

a device for trapping birds or small animals, esp a flexible loop that is drawn tight around the prey

a surgical instrument for removing certain tumours, consisting of a wire loop that may be drawn tight around their base to sever or uproot them

anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares

verb (transitive)

to catch (birds or small animals) with a snare

to catch or trap in or as if in a snare; capture by trickery

Derived Forms

snareless, adjective
snarer, noun

Word Origin

Old English sneare, from Old Norse snara; related to Old High German snaraha

snare²

/snɛə/

noun

(music) a set of gut strings wound with wire fitted against the lower drumhead of a snare drum. They produce a rattling sound when the drum is beaten See snare drum

Word Origin

C17: from Middle Dutch snaer or Middle Low German snare string; related to Gothic snōrjō basket

Word Origin and History for snare

"noose for catching animals," late Old English, from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse snara "noose, snare," related to soenri "twisted rope," from Proto-Germanic *snarkho (cf. Middle Dutch snare, Dutch snaar, Old High German snare, German Schnur "noose, cord," Old English snear "a string, cord"). Figuratively from c.1300.

"string across a drum," 1680s, probably from Dutch snaar "string," from same source as snare (n.1). From 1938 as short for snare-drum (1873).

late 14c., "to ensnare," from snare (n.1). Related: Snared; snaring.

snare in Medicine

snare (snâr)
n.
A surgical instrument with a wire loop controlled by a mechanism in the handle, used to remove growths, such as tumors and polyps.

snare in the Bible

The expression (Amos 3:5), "Shall one take up a snare from the earth?" etc. (Authorized Version), ought to be, as in the Revised Version, "Shall a snare spring up from the ground?" etc. (See GIN.)