"tripwire" meaning in English

See tripwire in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: tripwires [plural]
Etymology: trip + wire Etymology templates: {{compound|en|trip|wire}} trip + wire Head templates: {{en-noun}} tripwire (plural tripwires)
  1. A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine. Translations (a passive triggering mechanism): 絆馬索 (Chinese Mandarin), 绊马索 (bànmǎsuǒ) (Chinese Mandarin), 絆索 (Chinese Mandarin), 绊索 (bànsuǒ) (Chinese Mandarin), snubletråd (Danish), struikeldraad (Dutch), valstrik (Dutch), kompastuslanka (Finnish), fil de détente [masculine] (French), Stolperdraht [masculine] (German), sreang thuisle [masculine] (Irish), トリップワイヤー (torippuwaiyā) (Japanese), atotampa [feminine] (Lithuanian), про́волока взрыва́теля (próvoloka vzryvátelja) [feminine] (Russian), про́волочная нить-растя́жка (próvoločnaja nitʹ-rastjážka) [feminine] (Russian), snubbeltråd [common-gender] (Swedish), weiren faglu [feminine] (Welsh)
    Sense id: en-tripwire-en-noun-BfcN0fYT Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 43 8 Disambiguation of 'a passive triggering mechanism': 82 18
  2. Any means of detecting intruders or attackers.
    Sense id: en-tripwire-en-noun-0u0lsZhn Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 43 8
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: trip wire, tripline, trip cord Related terms: land mine, explosive

Verb

Forms: tripwires [present, singular, third-person], tripwiring [participle, present], tripwired [participle, past], tripwired [past]
Etymology: trip + wire Etymology templates: {{compound|en|trip|wire}} trip + wire Head templates: {{en-verb}} tripwire (third-person singular simple present tripwires, present participle tripwiring, simple past and past participle tripwired)
  1. (transitive) To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location). Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-tripwire-en-verb-JElQw4bv

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for tripwire meaning in English (5.9kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "trip",
        "3": "wire"
      },
      "expansion": "trip + wire",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "trip + wire",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tripwires",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tripwire (plural tripwires)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "land mine"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "explosive"
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  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "49 43 8",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Seeing the tripwire of a nearby bouncing Betty gave us cold chills, and we moved all the more slowly through the woods.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 119",
          "text": "They watched the two ghost-hunters run own the corridor and go crashing over the trip-wire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 December 30, Tim Dunn, “The railway's mechanical marvels”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption",
          "text": "Thirteen people were injured in August 1957 when this Bristol freighter skidded on the runway at Southend Airport when landing with a flight from Calais. It ploughed through the boundary fence, but thankfully stopped short of the railway and the 1,500V overhead wires. A tripwire was installed on this section of Shenfield-Southend line to warn train drivers of instances such as this.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine."
      ],
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        [
          "intruder",
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          "land mine",
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          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "絆馬索"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bànmǎsuǒ",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "绊马索"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "絆索"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bànsuǒ",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "绊索"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "snubletråd"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "struikeldraad"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "valstrik"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "kompastuslanka"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "fil de détente"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Stolperdraht"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "sreang thuisle"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "torippuwaiyā",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "word": "トリップワイヤー"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "lt",
          "lang": "Lithuanian",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "atotampa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "próvoloka vzryvátelja",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "про́волока взрыва́теля"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "próvoločnaja nitʹ-rastjážka",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "про́волочная нить-растя́жка"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "snubbeltråd"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
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        }
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        {
          "ref": "1994, Diplomat, volume 5, page 67",
          "text": "The continued presence of U.S. troops as a tripwire force in Macedonia is an increasingly risky venture.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any means of detecting intruders or attackers."
      ],
      "id": "en-tripwire-en-noun-0u0lsZhn",
      "links": [
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          "intruder"
        ],
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "trip wire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "tripline"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "trip cord"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "tripwire"
  ],
  "word": "tripwire"
}

{
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      "expansion": "trip + wire",
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "trip + wire",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tripwires",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "tripwiring",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "tripwired",
      "tags": [
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location)."
      ],
      "id": "en-tripwire-en-verb-JElQw4bv",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "tripwire"
  ],
  "word": "tripwire"
}
{
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  "etymology_text": "trip + wire",
  "forms": [
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  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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      "word": "land mine"
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    {
      "word": "explosive"
    }
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        {
          "text": "Seeing the tripwire of a nearby bouncing Betty gave us cold chills, and we moved all the more slowly through the woods.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 119",
          "text": "They watched the two ghost-hunters run own the corridor and go crashing over the trip-wire.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2020 December 30, Tim Dunn, “The railway's mechanical marvels”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption",
          "text": "Thirteen people were injured in August 1957 when this Bristol freighter skidded on the runway at Southend Airport when landing with a flight from Calais. It ploughed through the boundary fence, but thankfully stopped short of the railway and the 1,500V overhead wires. A tripwire was installed on this section of Shenfield-Southend line to warn train drivers of instances such as this.",
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        "A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine."
      ],
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          "cord",
          "cord"
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          "ref": "1994, Diplomat, volume 5, page 67",
          "text": "The continued presence of U.S. troops as a tripwire force in Macedonia is an increasingly risky venture.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any means of detecting intruders or attackers."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "intruder",
          "intruder"
        ],
        [
          "attacker",
          "attacker"
        ]
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "trip wire"
    },
    {
      "word": "tripline"
    },
    {
      "word": "trip cord"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "絆馬索"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bànmǎsuǒ",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "绊马索"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "絆索"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bànsuǒ",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "绊索"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "snubletråd"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "struikeldraad"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "valstrik"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "kompastuslanka"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "fil de détente"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Stolperdraht"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sreang thuisle"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "torippuwaiyā",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "word": "トリップワイヤー"
    },
    {
      "code": "lt",
      "lang": "Lithuanian",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "atotampa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "próvoloka vzryvátelja",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "про́волока взрыва́теля"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "próvoločnaja nitʹ-rastjážka",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "про́волочная нить-растя́жка"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "snubbeltråd"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "a passive triggering mechanism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "weiren faglu"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "tripwire"
  ],
  "word": "tripwire"
}

{
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  "etymology_text": "trip + wire",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tripwires",
      "tags": [
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        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tripwiring",
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    {
      "form": "tripwired",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location)."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "tripwire"
  ],
  "word": "tripwire"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.