▪ I. ˈtrapper, n.1 Obs. exc. Hist.
Forms: 4–6 trappure, 5 trappor, -ere, trapure, -ur, -oure, -owre, -ere, 5–6 trappour(e, -ar, 5–7 traper, 5–9 trapper.
[ad. OF. *trapeüre, *drapeüre, drapure (a 1500 in Godef. ‘chevaulx couvers de drapures diverses’), also AF. drapeur (Stat. 7 Edw. IV in Godef.); = med.(Anglo-)L. trappātūra (a 1450 in Du Cange): see trap n.2, v.2 With later form cf. bordure, border, and -er2 3.]
A covering put over a horse or other beast of burden, made of metal or leather for purpose of defence, or of cloth for shelter and adornment; trapping; housing.
| 13.. Coer de L. 2262 Ten hundred stedes good and sure King Richard let array in trappure. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1641 The scheeldes brighte testeres, and trappures; Gold hewen helmes, hauberkes, Cote Armures. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 123 Þai hafe..trappour to þaire hors. 1459 in Paston Lett. I. 477, j. pece of skarlot for trappars for horsys. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 215 To John Wysnacke the same day,..ffor steynynge off my masterys traperys, iij. s. iiij. d. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvi. 58 The swerd..cut thorow the trappere of stele. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. v. 194 Thair brusit trappouris and patrellis reddy boun. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 25 b, His horse trapped in blue veluet..which trapper was borne by fotemen from the grounde. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 114 The Trappers seem to hover Like wings..As the horse pranc'd. 1891 Athenæum 23 May 670/3 His opinion that the long⁓shanked spur was for use when the horse was covered with a trapper. 1902 Jrnl. Archæol. Inst. Mar. 74 A chain-mail trapper beneath the textile. |
| fig. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxvii. (Percy Soc.) 132 The good knight Trouth..betrapped fayre and gaye Wyth shyning trappers of curiositie. 1600 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. viii. F v, Al these blessings are the trapers of the furniture of Patience. |
▪ II. trapper, n.2
(ˈtræpə(r))
[f. trap v.1 and n.1]
1. One who sets traps or snares; spec. one engaged in trapping wild animals for their furs.
| 1768 Pennant Zool. II. 338 The trappers..bait the trap with a meal worm..: Ten or a dozen nightingales have been caught in a day. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie II. i. 7 The hunters and trappers on La Platte. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiii. 31 Trappers and hunters..with their valuable skins and furs. 1857 Tennyson Enid 1572 A sudden.. cry, As of a wild thing taken in the trap, Which sees the trapper coming thro' the wood. |
| attrib. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. Pref. 6 My book is a trapper book. 1899 Daily News 27 Mar. 8/2 The authors tell us trapper stories and Red Indian tales. |
2. A boy stationed to open and shut a trap-door for the passage of trams in a coal-mine. Also trapper-boy, trapper-lad.
| 1815 Ann. Philos. VI. 114 The trappers have seats near their doors, and remain by them all the time the pit is at work. 1845 Mrs. Norton Child of Isl. 22 So lives the little Trapper underground: No glittering sunshine streaks the oosy wall. 1892 Pall Mall G. 19 Aug. 1/3 Mrs. Keir Hardie..began life as a trapper boy in a mine. 1900 [trapper lad: see trap n.1 8 b]. |
3. One who manages a trap in trap-shooting: cf. trap n.1 4.
| a 1892 Hurlingham Club Rules for Pigeon Shooting §6 If, in the opinion of the referee, the shooter is balked by any antagonist or looker-on, or by the trapper,..he may be allowed another bird. 1892 Greener Breech-Loader 246 It is best to take no heed either of bystanders or trappers when going to the mark. |
4. colloq. A horse which draws a ‘trap’.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 24 Apr. 4/1 The hard-worked ‘trapper’..munches his oats in solitude in many a stable. 1894 Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life I. 57, I..made a journey to Tattersall's, and bought a very clever trapper, a bay mare. |
▪ III. † ˈtrapper, v. Obs. rare.
[f. trapper n.1]
trans. To cover or adorn with trappings. Also fig.
| 1597 G. Harvey Trimming T. Nashe Wks. (Grosart) III. 56 His fierie steedes trapperd in their caparisons. 1620 Feltham Resolves lxxxiii. 271 To see how Vice goes trapperd [later edd. trapped] with rich furniture. 1633 T. Scot Highw. God. 17 As for fear, it's too base an humour to trapper justice. |