roach moteln.
/ˌrəʊtʃ məʊˈtɛl/, U.S. /ˌroʊtʃ moʊˈtɛl/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
1.
a. A type of cockroach trap.A proprietary name in the United States.
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1976 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 23 Nov. tm322/2 Roach Motel... For Waterbug and Roach Traps. First use May 7, 1976.
1991 Science 12 Apr. 212/2 The fungus is dispensed in a chemical bait station, which looks somewhat like a ‘Roach Motel’.
2007 R.W. Belk in N.K. Malhotra Rev. Marketing Res. III. vii. 196 What they liked about traditional roach sprays was seeing the bug surrogates for the bad men in their lives writhe in agony and die. The more sedate roach motel..deprived them of this sadistic pleasure.
b. figurative. A place, situation, etc., from which it may be difficult or impossible to be extricated.
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the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > entanglement or entangled state > [noun] > condition of being unable to be untangled
inextricableness1624
inextricability1834
roach motel1981
1981 N.Y. Times 1 Mar. br3 Hobson University Medical Center..where Robin Cook..has set his latest medical thriller, is less like a hospital than one of those ‘Roach Motels’ where the guests check in but fail to check out.]
1981 V. Canby in N.Y. Times 10 July c6/2 Manhattan becomes a sort of super Roach Motel: the inmates check in but they don't check out.
1991 Economist 7 Dec. 126/3 The illiquidity of small companies' shares tended to dampen venture capitalists' profits. Wary investment managers dubbed such shares ‘Roach Motel’ stocks, after an insect trap for which it was claimed that ‘the roaches check in, but they don't check out’.
2000 U.S. News & World Rep. 3 Jan. 62/1 He warns them against..becoming stealth researchers whose distrust of others makes them..roach motels for information.
2. colloquial. An extremely dirty or run-down motel or other building.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > accommodation or lodging > public lodging-places > [noun] > cheap, dirty, or run-down lodging house or hotel
rope1836
twopenny rope1836
bughouse1840
bug trap1851
hash house1865
fleabag1907
no-tell motel1961
roach motel1982
1982 D. K. Mano Take Five ii. 193 There are no businessman's rates in that roach motel.
1990 N.Y. Times 21 Feb. c6 My husband works for the Government and when he is on the road he stays in roach motels.
1999 Indiana Daily Student (Bloomington) 14 Jan. (Spring Break section) 12/4 We decided to look for hotels, but even the roach motels were booked.
2008 J. Varley Rolling Thunder iv. 30 According to Granddaddy Manny, it was not a roach motel, Betty never let it sink so low, but it was struggling.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1976