ˈrat-trap
[f. rat n.1 + trap n.]
1. a. A trap for catching rats. Also fig., and attrib. in sense ‘resembling a rat-trap’.
| 1469 Churchw. Acc. St. Mich. Cornhill, Payed for iij rat trappes for the churche, vj d. 1820 Scott Monast. xxx, Men peeping through their own bars like so many rats in a rat-trap. 1884 Duke of St. Albans in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 172 A Peer..finds himself in a rat-trap from which politically there is no escape except death. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 1/3 A gaunt man with a rat-trap face. 1907 Ibid. 20 Sept. 4/2 His [sc. a pike's] rat-trap jaws. 1978 R. Westall Devil on Road xxiii. 217 He had a rat-trap jaw and little deep-set eyes. |
b. transf. A shabby or ramshackle building or dwelling. colloq.
| 1838 De Quincey in Blackw. Mag. XLIII. 21/2 Ay; but mind you,—put case that he or that she should die in this rat trap before sentence is passed. 1876 H. T. Williams Pacific Tourist 205 The following are among the..oddities which have, through miners' freaks and fancies, been used to denote settlements and camps and diggings, small or large:..Rat-Trap Slide. 1892 ‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant iv. 56 It wouldn't have occurred to anybody else to name this poor old rat-trap Rossmore Towers. 1974 Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 77 Shabby hotel,..flop joint, joint, rat trap. |
2. Applied (attrib. or absol.) to a cycle pedal consisting of two parallel iron plates with teeth cut in them, as in a common style of rat-trap.
| 1885 Bazaar 30 Mar. 1275/1 Balls to all bearings and pedals, which are rattrap. 1887 Bury & Hillier Cycling 171 Pedals..should be preferably rat-traps which afford a good hold for the feet. 1931 H. W. Bartleet Bartleet's Bicycle Bk. 33 Every practical cyclist who saw my pedals praised the scheme of rattrap and rubber in combination. 1974 Sumter (S. Carolina) Daily Item 24 Apr. (Western Auto Advts. Suppl.) 4 Chromed rat trap racing pedals! 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 28 June 2-c (Advt.), Rat trap pedals... Big ‘knobby’ tread tires. |
3. Building. Applied attrib. to a form of Flemish bond (bond n.1 13 a) in which the bricks are laid on edge and the ‘headers’ span the whole thickness of wall, dividing the wall cavity into square spaces.
| 1932 E. Gunn Economy in House Design ix. 31 Brickwork beneath the tile hanging should be built in rat trap bond. 1939 ― Building Technique 39/1 Rat-trap or box-bond... This form of walling, which may be briefly described as Flemish-bond with all bricks laid on edge, is well-recognised in Sussex and adjoining counties where tile-hung walls are common. 1974 Bricks (Brick Development Assoc.) i. 33 (heading) Rat-trap bond. |