figurative. A means of catching or securing a person or thing; esp. a moral or mental snare, trap, or entanglement.

figurative. A person or thing that catches or ensnares like a hook. Obsolete.

figurative or in figurative expressions.

transferred and figurative, and in figurative expressions.

A trap, gin, or snare, to catch the feet of beasts, of horses or men in war, and the like. Obsolete. (Still in French in sense ‘wolf-trap’.)

A net, a snare; a rope with a noose used for capturing people or animals. Chiefly figurative. Cf. latch, n.1 1. Obsolete.

figurative. A snare, trap, wile.

In Wyclif the form aspye occurs often in the sense ‘snare, ambush’.

figurative and in figurative contexts. Something likened to a cobweb, esp. in being a snare or means of entanglement, or in being delicate…

figurative. That by which any one is attracted or ensnared and caught; a snare; a catch. on the hook: (in various figurative uses, e.g.) ensnared…

An ambush or trap. Obsolete.

Used for: A trap or snare (figurative).

A decoy-bird. Chiefly figurative. Obsolete.

transferred and figurative. A deceptive means of allurement; a person or thing held out as a lure or bait to entrap a person. Obsolete.

figurative and in figurative context. In singular. Now chiefly in to be caught in the toil (of).

An act of entrapping someone; a trick, a trap.

A small net resembling a stocking, affixed to a pole (Jamieson); figurative a position from which it is difficult to escape.

figurative. A bait, something swallowed greedily or credulously: in to gape for gudgeons, to swallow a gudgeon, to give a gudgeon.

Extended uses. A device or trap for ensnaring a person.

A trap consisting of a trapdoor or covering over a pit or cellar arranged so as to give way beneath the feet. Also figurative.

The action of ensnaring; the state or fact of being ensnared; concrete that which ensnares: an allurement, enticement, bait.

Anything employed to allure and entice, especially into a trap; an enticement, bait, trap.

figurative. A subtly woven snare, entangling mesh.

The action of entrapping; a stratagem, trick; a trap or snare.

U.S. A trick, deception, trap; also in to give the snap away.

figurative. A trap, snare (cf. trap, n.1 1b).

Originally U.S. Designating an animal (esp. a sheep or goat) used to lead others to slaughter, or (figurative) any person or thing used as a decoy…

That which tangles or entraps the foot; spec. U.S. slang, an intoxicating beverage, esp. whisky. Also attributive.

A difficult situation or problem which cannot be resolved because the conditions necessary for its resolution are paradoxical or conflicting. Also…

transferred and figurative.