Word.ws English Dictionary

man-trap

man-trap is the alternative form of mantrap.

Meaning of mantrap

Noun

mantrap (plural mantraps)

  1. A mechanical device for catching trespassers.
    • A prevalent custom is the "pomali," exactly equivalent to the "taboo" of the Pacific islanders, and equally respected. It is used on the commonest occasions, and a few palm leaves stuck outside a garden as a sign of the "pomali" will preserve its produce from thieves as effectually as the...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 306
  2. A small space with two sets of interlocking doors, such that the first set of doors must close before the second set opens, used to restrict access.
  3. (slang) A woman who is dangerously seductive to men.
    • "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Wal, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap."1858, Tom Taylor, Our American Cousin
    Synonyms:
    vamp

Forms of man-trap

pluralman-traps

Questions about man-trap

What is man-trap the alternative form of?
Man-trap is the alternative form of mantrap.

Words near man-trap in the dictionary

  1. man-tiger
  2. man-tigers
  3. man-to-man
  4. man-to-man defense
  5. man-to-man defenses
  6. man-trap
  7. man-traps
  8. man-whore
  9. man-whores
  10. man-witch
  11. man-wolf

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: man-trap (page history and authors); mantrap (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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Cite this entry: “man-trap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/man-trap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.