snares

Noun

snare (plural snares)

1. A trap (especially one made from a loop of wire, string, or leather).
   • He […] watched Beavis’s long-toothed mouth open and clap to like a rabbit snare.1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, published 1960, Book Three, Chapter One, pp. 196-197
2. A mental or psychological trap.
   • If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
     Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee:1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
3. A loop of cord used in obstetric cases, to hold or to pull a fetus from the mother animal.
4. A similar looped instrument formerly used to remove tumours etc.
5. A set of stiff wires held under tension against the bottom head of a drum to create a rattling sound.
6. A snare drum.

See all 11 meanings of snare