Mousetrap

Pronunciation

• enPR: mous'trăp, IPA: /ˈmaÊŠsËŒtɹæp/

Origin

mouse + trap

Full definition of mousetrap

Noun

1. Device for capturing or killing mice and other rodents.
2. (computing) A website designed to open another copy of itself when the user tries to close the webpage. Frequently used by advertisers and pornographers.
3. (business studies) With attribute "better", a hypothetical new or improved product used in economic projections.But what happens if they build a better mousetrap?
4. (chiefly British) Ordinary, everyday cheese
5. (NZ) A slice of bread or toast topped with cheese and then grilled or microwaved.

Verb

1. (figuratively) To trap; to trick or fool (someone) into a bad situation.
• 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 724:He hoped to bring the rebels out of their trenches for a showdown battle somewhere south of the Wilderness, that gloomy expanse of scrub oaks and pines where Lee had mousetrapped Joe Hooker exactly a year earlier.

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