bug trapn.
/ˈbʌɡ trap/, U.S. /ˈbəɡ ˌtræp/ 1.
a. colloquial. Something, esp. a lodging house, which is infested or likely to be infested by insects or other bugs (bug n.2 1), esp. bedbugs. rare.
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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
1730 J. Southall Treat. Buggs 35 Let no Washer-woman's Basket be brought into your Houses; for they often prove as dangerous to those that have no Buggs, as Cradles, and Bugg-Traps made of the same Wood, often do to those that have them.
1761 Gen. Evening Post 19 May The flock bed and bug-trap, near St. Giles's Pound.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 248/1 The ‘Bug-trap’, which from time immemorial has been the name of the most renowned lodging-house in that..locality [sc. Sheffield].
1993 H. Garner & P. Stuewe Don't deal Five Deuces viii. 129 That living room is crammed full of stuff that wouldn't be out of place up in the Bayview district. Mind you, in this bug-trap it only looks crass and tasteless.
b. Nautical slang. A (small) boat. Now rare.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > boat as different from ship > boat as smaller than ship
boateOE
barca1866
bug trap1886
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > small vessel > small ship
shipleta1552
shipling1866
bug trap1886
1886 Jrnl. Royal United Service Inst. 28 1036 We know perfectly well that if war breaks out these wretched little creatures—bug-traps, as we call them—will be shut up in ports and be unable to do anything.
1895 Boy's Own Paper 6 Apr. 427/1 Small vessels are..commonly called ‘bug-traps’, because they soon get filled up with cockroaches.
1916 M. T. Hainsselin In Northern Mists xvi. 62 A German submarine..kept one of the bug-traps bailed up..for a week by waiting..ready to squirt a mouldy at her directly she showed her nose outside.
1929 E. S. McCartney in Papers Michigan Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. 10 282/1 Bug-trap, a gun-boat.
1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 29 Bug-trap, a Naval Auxiliary Vessel or any Tramp Steamer.
2. A device for trapping or killing bugs. Cf. insect-trap n. at insect n. Compounds 1e.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > equipment > trap or snare > [noun] > trap for insects
flycatcher1708
bug trap?1765
flapper1796
fly-cage1838
flypaper1842
fly-trap1855
catch-'em-alive-oh1856
light trap1881
?1765 ‘Oddibus, Funnybus’ Coll. Orig. Comic Songs xlvi. 39 A bugg trap instantly was brought, And at the bedstead head was laid, At morning I poor, I was caught.
1846 A. J. Cooley Cycl. Pract. Receipts 147/1 A bug-trap, placed at the head of the bed, forms a receptacle for them.
1900 Detroit Free Press 8 Nov. 2/3 The latest surprise for a cockroach is a bug trap.
1977 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 July 4/1 Another insect fries to death as the electrocuting bug trap does its work.
2016 Argus Weekend (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 17 July 3 A bug trap hangs in that void, catching some of the 50 different types of beetle and 16 butterfly and moth species that flourish in this ancient wildwood.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1730