Word.ws English Dictionary

caltrops

caltrops is the plural of caltrop.

Meaning of caltrop

Noun

caltrop (plural caltrops)

  1. A metal object, usually small, with spikes arranged so that, when thrown onto the ground, one always faces up as a threat to pedestrians, horses, and vehicles (also used as a heraldic charge).
    • […] her father, the emperor Alexius, who reigned AD 1081-1118, ordered caltrops to be cast in front of his archers […]1858, The journal of the British Archaeological Association
    Synonyms:
    crow's foot, crowfoot, jackrock, cheval trap
  2. (colloquial) The starthistle, Centaurea calcitrapa, a plant with sharp thorns.
    Synonyms:
    knapweed
  3. Any of a number of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae, including several members of the genus Kallstroemia and the species Tribulus terrestris, native to warm temperate and tropical regions.

Phrases with caltrops

Questions about caltrops

What is caltrops the plural of?
Caltrops is the plural of caltrop.

Words near caltrops in the dictionary

  1. caltractins
  2. Caltrans
  3. caltrap
  4. caltraps
  5. caltrop
  6. caltrops
  7. Caluan
  8. Caluasan
  9. Calubian
  10. Calubihan
  11. Caluco

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caltrops (page history and authors); caltrop (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-caltrops.wav.

Cite this entry: “caltrops.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caltrops. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.