Caltrap

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small spiked device designed to injure the feet of advancing enemies or hinder vehicles
2. An object with sharp points used to slow down or prevent passage by causing injury
3. A tool made to be placed on the ground to damage tires or feet and obstruct movement

Etymology: The caltrap is an archaic spelling of "caltrop", a spiked iron device scattered on the ground to injure horses and foot soldiers. The surprise is that its name began as a plant. Medieval Latin "calcatrippa" meant "thistle", and the spiked iron device took its name from the prickly weed, because its four points were built so that one always stood upright, like a thistle's spines. The word's parts come from Latin. "Calx" or "calcare", meaning "heel" or "to tread", supplied the first half, and "trappa", meaning "trap", supplied the second. Together they describe a thistle that catches whatever treads on it. The compound passed into Old English as "calcatrippe" and then into Middle English as "calketrappe", a path that shows how a plant name could travel into the vocabulary of warfare.

Synonyms: spike, thorn