Entraps

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To capture or enclose someone by using deceit or force
2. To catch or trap a person or animal through trickery or physical means
3. To ensnare or confine an individual by clever or coercive methods

Etymology: "Entraps" is the third-person singular form of "entrap," so the core story belongs to the verb itself. The base word is "trap," an ancient and everyday noun, and the prefix "en-" turns it into a verb meaning to put something into a trap. English inherited the idea of catching something in a trap from Old French "entraper," which itself combined "en-" with "trap," and that French form reached English through Middle French "entrapper." English already had a version of this word before the French borrowing. Old English had "betræppan," meaning to catch in a trap, and its descendant "bitrappen" appeared in Middle English. The modern form "entrap" thus sits alongside an older native sense of the same idea, both drawn from the same West Germanic root that gave us "trap" itself.

Synonyms: catches, captures, ensnares