trapan

English

WOTD – 3 September 2024

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tɹəˈpæn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æn
• Hyphenation: trap‧an

Etymology 1

The origin of the noun is uncertain; sense 2 (“person that traps or tricks another”), the original sense, was probably thieves’ cant and may be derived from trap (noun or verb). Sense 1 (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks”) is from the verb.

The verb is derived from sense 2 of the noun.

Noun

trapan (plural trapans)

2. An act of entrapping or tricking; an entrapment; also, a thing which entraps or tricks; a snare or trap; a stratagem or trick.
   • 1661 December 20 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “False Foundations Removed, and True Ones Laid for such Wise Builders as Design to Build for Eternity. In a Sermon Preached at St. Mary’s, Oxon, before the University, Decem. 10. 1661.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: […] Tho[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, pages 207–208:

     As for all other Pretences, they are nothing but Death and Damnation, dreſſed up in Fair VVords and Falſe Shevvs; nothing but Ginns, and Snares, and Trepans for Souls; Contrived by the Devil, and Managed by ſuch as the Devil ſets on VVork.

   • 1678 November 20 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1694, Robert South, “Prevention of Sin an Unvaluable Mercy: or, A Sermon Preached upon that Subject, on 1 Sam[uel] XXV. 32, 33. at Christ-Church, Oxon. Nov. 10, 1678.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume II, London: […] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, pages 515–516:

     [A] Man ſhould fix and fore-arm his Mind vvith this ſettled Perſvvaſion, that, during that Commotion of his Blood and Spirits, in vvhich Paſſion properly conſiſts, vvhatſoever is offered to the Imagination in favour of it, tends only to deceive his Reaſon. It is indeed a real Trapan upon it; feeding it vvith Colours, and Appearances, inſtead of Arguments; […]

   • 1715, Robert South, “A Sermon on Proverbs i. 32. The Prosperity of Fools shall Destroy Them.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, pages 81–82:

     But novv has this little Embryo Strength enough to thruſt itſelf into the VVorld? To hold up its Head, and to maintain its Courſe to a perfect Maturity, againſt all the Aſſaults and Batteries of Intemperance; all the Snares and Trapans that Common Life lays in its VVay to extinguiſh and ſuppreſs it?

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 159:

     Julian was hastily revolving whether they ought, in prudence, to accept this man's invitation, aware, by experience, how many trepans, as they were then termed, were used betwixt two contending factions, […]

4. (probably originally thieves' cant, archaic or obsolete) A person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim; a fraudster, a swindler, a trickster.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fraudster

   • 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 32:

     [O]ld associates who had once thought him [Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston] a man of dauntless courage and spotless honour, […] now pronounced that he was at best a meanspirited coward, and hinted their suspicions that he had been from the beginning a spy and a trepan.

Alternative forms

• trepan

Translations

act of entrapping or tricking — see entrapment

thing which entraps or tricks — see snare,‎ stratagem,‎ trap,‎ trick

person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another — see fraudster,‎ swindler,‎ trickster

Verb

trapan (third-person singular simple present trapans, present participle trapanning, simple past and past participle trapanned) (transitive)

1. To catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap; to ensnare, to trap.
   • 1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “Canto III”, in Hudibras. The Second Part. […], London: […] T[homas] R[oycroft] for John Martyn, and James Allestry […], →OCLC, page 175:

     Each of 'em has a ſev'ral Gin, / To catch Intelligences in. / Some by the Noſe vvith fumes trapan 'em, / As Dunſtan did the Devil's Grannum.

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 163:

     "I cannot think," he said, after a moment's pause, "that the fellow means to trepan us; and in any event, I trust we should have no difficulty in forcing the door, or otherwise making an escape. […]"

2. (figurative) To trap or trick (someone), especially by using some stratagem, into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim; to defraud, to ensnare, to entrap, to swindle.
   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Shrop-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 3:

     […] [Edmund] Plovvden being of the Romiſh perſvvaſion, ſome Setters trapanned him (pardon the prolepſis) to hear Maſſe: But aftervvards Plovvden underſtanding, that the pretender to Officiate vvas no Prieſt, but a meer Lay-man (on deſigne to make a diſcovering) Oh! The caſe is altered quoth Plovvden: No Priest, no Maſſe.

   • 1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     And haſt thou trepan'd me into a Tabernacle of the Godly? Is this Pious Boarding-houſe a place for me, thou vvicked Varlet?

   • a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book III. Of the Rest of King Charles II’s Reign, from the Year 1673 to the Year 1685, in which He Died.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC, page 413:

     [H]e hoped he did not intend to make uſe of him to trepan a man to his ruin.

   • 1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], →OCLC, page 12:

     The Spaniſh Captain, tho' ſurpriz'd vvith the Stratagem that had brought him thus into the Hands of his Enemies, and greatly enrag'd in his Mind at being circumvented, and trapann'd out of his Ship, yet ſhevv'd a great Preſence of Mind under his Misfortune; […]

   • 1727, [Daniel Defoe], “Of the Honest Tradesman, when by Time and Long Success in Trade, He is Grown Well to Pass, How He Ought to Govern Himself, and How to Guard against Disasters which Naturally Attend a Prosperous Circumstance in Trade”, in The Compleat English Tradesman. […], volume II, London: […] Charles Rivington […], →OCLC, part I, page 88:

     [H]e ſcorns to make Miſtake paſs for Payment, or to lie upon the Catch to trapan his Neighbour; in a vvord, that he is a fair, dovvnright, honeſt Man, God has bleſt him, and every Body gives him a good VVord.

   • 1777 May 8 (first performance), [Richard Brinsley Sheridan], The School for Scandal; a Comedy; […], Dublin: [s.n.], published 1780, →OCLC, Act IV, scene [ii], page 58:

     O fie! Sir Peter,—vvhat, join in a plot to trepan my brother!

   • 1748, George Anson, Richard Walter, compiler, “Observations and Directions for Facilitating the Passage of Our Future Cruisers Round Cape Horn”, in [Benjamin Robins], editor, A Voyage Round the World, in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV. […], London: […] [F]or the author; by John and Paul Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 93:

     [H]is [John Narborough's] principal misfortune being the loſing company of a ſmall bark vvhich attended him, and having ſome of his people trapanned at Baldivia.

   • 1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter XVII, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume II, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 28:

     Among his men I recollected one Cordus, a gentleman's ſon from Hamburgh, in which character I had knovvn him, and vvho had been trepanned into the VVeſt India Company's ſervice by the crimps or ſilver-coopers as a common ſoldier.

   • 1798, Charlotte Smith, chapter V, in The Young Philosopher: […], volume IV, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 108:

     No, Sir, I vvill not be alone vvith you; you have infamouſly trepanned me from my friends, and I inſiſt upon being carried back to my mother, or rather left here, for vvith you I vvill not travel.

   • 1827, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], volume II (The Surgeon’s Daughter), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, pages 174–175:

     But that he should have trepanned the friend who had reposed his whole confidence in him—that he should have plundered him of his fortune, and placed him in this house of pestilence, with the hope that death might stifle his tongue, were iniquities not to have been anticipated, even if the worst of these reports were true.

   • 1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Polite Literature in Prose from 1600 to 1650”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, section I, paragraph 7, page 629:

     But [Ferrante] Pallavicino, having been trepanned into the power of the pope, lost his head at Avignon.

   • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Come to Mr. Rankeillor”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 280:

     "In the plain meaning of the word, sir," said I. "I was on my way to your house, when I was trepanned on board the brig, cruelly struck down, thrown below, and knew no more of anything till we were far at sea. I was destined for the plantations; a fate that, in God's providence, I have escaped."

Alternative forms

• trepan

Derived terms

• trapanned (adjective)
• trapanner
• trapanning (adjective, noun)
• trapanningly (archaic or obsolete)

Translations

to catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap — see ensnare,‎ entrap,‎ trap

to trap or trick (someone) into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim — see defraud,‎ ensnare,‎ entrap,‎ swindle

Etymology 2

See trepan.

Noun

trapan (plural trapans)

1. Alternative spelling of trepan (“surgical instrument used to remove a small section of bone, usually from the skull; tool used to bore through rock, etc.”)

Verb

trapan (third-person singular simple present trapans, present participle trapanning, simple past and past participle trapanned)

1. Alternative spelling of trepan (“to cut through bone, usually the skull, using a trepan (etymology 2, noun sense); to create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material”)

Anagrams

• partan, tarpan

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtrapaŋ/

Noun

trapan m (plural trapan)

1. drill
2. trepan