A trap is a device or tactic intended to harm, capture, detect, or inconvenience a human or animal intruder, an animal pest, or a game. Traps may be physical objects, such as cages or snares, or metaphorical concepts.

Physical traps

Examples of physical traps include:

• Animal traps, see Animal trapping, often used to obtain the fur or meat of wild animals
• Booby trap, a mechanism designed to capture or harm unsuspecting humans or animals
• Punji stick
• Trou de loup
• Heligoland trap, a large funnel-shaped structure used to trap birds
• Insect trap, used to capture insects
• Man-trap
• Mousetrap, designed to catch mice. See also Mousetrap (disambiguation)
• Trapdoor, a recessed (often hidden) door in a floor or ceiling
• Sand trap, a golf bunker.

Metaphorical traps

Examples of metaphorical or conceptual traps include:

• Canary trap, a method for exposing an information leak
• Chess trap, a move intended to induce the opponent to blunder
• High level equilibrium trap, a concept used to explain why China never underwent an indigenous Industrial Revolution
• Honey trap, a form of sting operation in law enforcement
• Liquidity trap, a concept in economics involving a stagnant economy and low interest rates
• Speed trap, a tactic designed to catch speed limit violators; it may also refer to a place where such a tactic is commonly used
• Verbal trap, a statement or question phrased in such a way that any valid response would imply something the responder does not intend. See also Trick question
• Welfare trap, a phenomenon by which social policies interact to keep people dependent on welfare; related concepts include the unemployment trap and poverty trap
• Chemical trap, a chemical compound responsible for capturing an elusive molecule.

Other meanings

Other meanings of the word trap include: .

• In bodybuilding, a nickname for the trapezius muscle
• In biochemistry, TRAP is an abbreviation for tartrate resistant acid phosphatase
• In computing and operating systems, a trap is a programming code or signal designed to capture errors and reveal where they are. More specifically, a processor-generated exception, usually resulting in a switch into kernel mode
• In electronics, a filter used to block a range of frequencies
• Traps, a common name for elevated topographic features made out of basalt, an igneous rock
• Traprock, a common name for basalt, an igneous rock
• In geology, a rock formation in which water, salt or hydrocarbons may collect
• In horseriding, a device which attaches a carriage to a pony
• In role-playing games, a type of obstacle often used in dungeons
• In anime culture, a male crossdresser whose cross-dressing is so convincing that he is often mistaken for a real girl.
• The term has since migrated to internet culture, describing a man who looks like an attractive woman or a pre-operation male to female transsexual. Females crossdressing as males or pre-op female to male transsexuals are often referred to as reverse traps.
• In the narcotics industry, an area where drugs are bought and sold in an open-air street market. People who are major drug dealers in a trap are known as "Trap Stars"
• Trap (plumbing), a U-shaped pipe located below a drain; also called a water seal
• Trap (poker), a poker strategy
• In color printing, where inks of different colours have been overlapped to mask registration problems. The process is called spreading and choking
• In shooting sports, the activity of trap shooting, a clay target shooting sport; also, specifically the Olympic Trap event; also, the device which launches the clays
• Trap (carriage),
• a light two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage
• a similar early automobile
• A trap room, part of a theater
• In music, "the traps" is a slang term for a drum kit, or a similar collection of percussion instruments
• Trap run, an American football play