Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
An act of entrapping or tricking; an entrapment; also, a thing which entraps or tricks; a snare or trap; a stratagem or trick.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim; a fraudster, a swindler, a trickster.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, obsolete
Qualifier: probably originally thieves' cant
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bunco-steerer, charlatan, cheat, jackal, cheater, chiseler, cozener, defrauder, finagler, fleecer, fraud, fraudmeister, fraudster, humbug, goldbrick, grifter, gull, gyp, landshark, pickpenny, rook, scammer, scamp, Scandaroon, schemester, sharper, slicker, spieler, swindler, trapan, trepan
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative spelling of trepan (“surgical instrument used to remove a small section of bone, usually from the skull; tool used to bore through rock, etc.”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap; to ensnare, to trap.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To trap or trick (someone), especially by using some stratagem, into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim; to defraud, to ensnare, to entrap, to swindle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Alternative spelling of trepan (“to cut through bone, usually the skull, using a trepan (etymology 2, noun sense); to create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material”)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
The origin of the noun is uncertain; etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“person that traps or tricks another”), the original sense, was probably thieves’ cant and may be derived from trap (noun or verb). Etymology 1, noun sense 1 (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks”) is from the verb. The verb is derived from etymology 1, noun sense 2 of the noun.
See trepan.
