"elephant trap" meaning in English

See elephant trap in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt ˌtɹæp/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈɛləfənt ˌtɹæp/ [General-American] Forms: elephant traps [plural]
Etymology: From elephant + trap, alluding to the fact that a trap for an elephant needs to be quite large, and so ought to be easily seen. Etymology templates: {{ref|From the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.|group=n|name=n1}}, {{compound|en|elephant|trap|notext=1|type=endocentric}} elephant + trap Head templates: {{en-noun}} elephant trap (plural elephant traps)
  1. A trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it. Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-elephant_trap-en-noun-3RLc4a-3
  2. (chess) Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players. Tags: figuratively Categories (topical): Chess Categories (lifeform): Elephants Translations ((chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn): parany de l'elefant [masculine] (Catalan), trampa de l'elefant [feminine] (Catalan), piège de l’éléphant [masculine] (French), എലിഫന്റ് ട്രാപ്പ് (elifanṟŭ ṭrāppŭ) (Malayalam), сло̀новска за̑мка [Cyrillic, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), slònovska zȃmka [Roman, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), யானைப் பொறி (yāṉaip poṟi) (Tamil), bẫy elephant (Vietnamese)
    Sense id: en-elephant_trap-en-noun-yBKpDMDD Disambiguation of Elephants: 5 95 Topics: board-games, chess, games Disambiguation of '(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn': 2 98

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for elephant trap meaning in English (4.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "From the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.",
        "group": "n",
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    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "elephant",
        "3": "trap",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "endocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "elephant + trap",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From elephant + trap, alluding to the fact that a trap for an elephant needs to be quite large, and so ought to be easily seen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elephant traps",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "elephant trap (plural elephant traps)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "hyphenation": [
    "ele‧phant"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "To show he doesn’t do his fair share of work, I’ve set him an elephant trap. If he falls in he’ll look like a clown.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it."
      ],
      "id": "en-elephant_trap-en-noun-3RLc4a-3",
      "links": [
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          "trap#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "easily",
          "easily"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
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        ],
        [
          "competent",
          "competent"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "prove",
          "prove"
        ],
        [
          "incompetence",
          "incompetence"
        ],
        [
          "trapped",
          "trap#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Chess",
          "orig": "en:Chess",
          "parents": [
            "Board games",
            "Tabletop games",
            "Games",
            "Recreation",
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "5 95",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Elephants",
          "orig": "en:Elephants",
          "parents": [
            "Mammals",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players."
      ],
      "id": "en-elephant_trap-en-noun-yBKpDMDD",
      "links": [
        [
          "chess",
          "chess"
        ],
        [
          "faulty",
          "faulty"
        ],
        [
          "attempt",
          "attempt#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "White",
          "white#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "win",
          "win#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "pawn",
          "pawn#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "popular",
          "popular#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "variation",
          "variation"
        ],
        [
          "Queen's Gambit Declined",
          "Queen's Gambit Declined"
        ],
        [
          "generally",
          "generally"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective"
        ],
        [
          "inexperienced",
          "inexperienced"
        ],
        [
          "player",
          "player"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chess) Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "board-games",
        "chess",
        "games"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "parany de l'elefant"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "trampa de l'elefant"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "piège de l’éléphant"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "ml",
          "lang": "Malayalam",
          "roman": "elifanṟŭ ṭrāppŭ",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "word": "എലിഫന്റ് ട്രാപ്പ്"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "tags": [
            "Cyrillic",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "сло̀новска за̑мка"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "tags": [
            "Roman",
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "slònovska zȃmka"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "ta",
          "lang": "Tamil",
          "roman": "yāṉaip poṟi",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "word": "யானைப் பொறி"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
          "word": "bẫy elephant"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt ˌtɹæp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛləfənt ˌtɹæp/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Emmanuel Frémiet"
  ],
  "word": "elephant trap"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "en:Elephants"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "From the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.",
        "group": "n",
        "name": "n1"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "trap",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "endocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "elephant + trap",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From elephant + trap, alluding to the fact that a trap for an elephant needs to be quite large, and so ought to be easily seen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "elephant traps",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "elephant trap (plural elephant traps)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "ele‧phant"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "To show he doesn’t do his fair share of work, I’ve set him an elephant trap. If he falls in he’ll look like a clown.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trap",
          "trap#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "easily",
          "easily"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ],
        [
          "competent",
          "competent"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "prove",
          "prove"
        ],
        [
          "incompetence",
          "incompetence"
        ],
        [
          "trapped",
          "trap#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Chess"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "chess",
          "chess"
        ],
        [
          "faulty",
          "faulty"
        ],
        [
          "attempt",
          "attempt#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "White",
          "white#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "win",
          "win#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "pawn",
          "pawn#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "popular",
          "popular#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "variation",
          "variation"
        ],
        [
          "Queen's Gambit Declined",
          "Queen's Gambit Declined"
        ],
        [
          "generally",
          "generally"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective"
        ],
        [
          "inexperienced",
          "inexperienced"
        ],
        [
          "player",
          "player"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chess) Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "board-games",
        "chess",
        "games"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt ˌtɹæp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɛləfənt ˌtɹæp/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "parany de l'elefant"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "trampa de l'elefant"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "piège de l’éléphant"
    },
    {
      "code": "ml",
      "lang": "Malayalam",
      "roman": "elifanṟŭ ṭrāppŭ",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "word": "എലിഫന്റ് ട്രാപ്പ്"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "сло̀новска за̑мка"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "tags": [
        "Roman",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "slònovska zȃmka"
    },
    {
      "code": "ta",
      "lang": "Tamil",
      "roman": "yāṉaip poṟi",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "word": "யானைப் பொறி"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn",
      "word": "bẫy elephant"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Emmanuel Frémiet"
  ],
  "word": "elephant trap"
}

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