Dictionary

mousetrap

Pronunciation

Noun

mousetrap

(countable) A device for capturing or killing mice and other rodents.
(countable, internet) A website designed to open another copy of itself when the user tries to close the webpage. Frequently used by advertisers and pornographers.
(countable, business studies) With attribute "better", a hypothetical new or improved product used in economic projections.
But what happens if they build a better mousetrap?
(chiefly, British, informal, uncountable) Ordinary, everyday cheese.
(NZ) A slice of bread or toast topped with cheese and then grilled or microwaved.
(military, historical) An antisubmarine rocket used mainly during World War II by the US Navy and US Coast Guard.
- 2003, Nautical Research Journal (volume 48, page 199)
  Besides depth charges, they were armed with smaller forward firing antisubmarine rocket launchers called mousetraps. Fired in groups, these rockets detonated when they contacted a submarine.

Synonyms

Translations

Verb

mousetrap (mousetraps, present participle mousetrapping; past and past participle mousetrapped)

(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.
(internet, transitive) To prevent (the user) from leaving a website by opening another copy when it is closed.
- 2005, Armando Ang, Greed & Scams, Inc
  The scammer is paid for each new visitor directed to his site. There is nothing wrong except that the user finds it impossible to leave the site because he is mousetrapped.

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003