finger trapn.
/ˈfɪŋɡə ˌtrap/, U.S. /ˈfɪŋɡər ˌtræp/ 1. A device designed to close painfully on the fingers of a pickpocket or the like. rare.
ΚΠ
1839 G. W. M. Reynolds Pickwick Abroad lxvii. 568 A friend of mine has just realized half a million by his patent finger trap: it is the death-blow of all pickpockets.
2012 R. Moore & G. Owen Bond on Bond 73 A finger trap slipped in the inside jacket pocket gives any hoodlum in search of your gun a nasty snap.
2. A toy or puzzle consisting of a small cylinder of woven bamboo, paper, straw, etc., into each end of which a person inserts a finger, only to find that attempting to pull them back out causes the cylinder to tighten around them. Also more fully Chinese finger trap.The common modern version is designed to trap a finger in each end, though single-ended versions have been made. The cylinder is woven in such a way that an increase in its length leads to a decrease in its circumference; the toy is escaped by pushing one's fingers towards the centre to reopen the trap.
ΚΠ
1900 Sunday Post (Boston) 29 Apr. 14/5 Among the special features for this week is a finger trap contest... The trap is a cute little cylinder-shaped contrivance.., and when the young ladies get caught they cannot extricate themselves without assistance.
1953 Middletown (Ohio) Jrnl. 18 Dec. 11 (advt.) Trick your friends with the Chinese Finger Trap.
1996 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 4 Aug. (caption) Arreon Neely, 9, left, tries to get out of a finger trap while B.J. Adkins watches.
2013 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 5 June The key, as in getting out of a Chinese finger trap, is learning to relax.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
<
n.1839