rat-trap

See also: rattrap and rat trap

English

Adjective

rat-trap (comparative more rat-trap, superlative most rat-trap)

1. That shuts forcibly or holds tight, like a rat trap.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     But above, perched each upon its own stone, tall, gray, and withered, more like dead and dried specimens than actual living creatures, sat the horrible males, absolutely motionless save for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional snap of their rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went past them.

   • 2000, Lee Marcus, Screw Your Courage, page 60:

     Everyone says he's got a rat trap mind.

2. Of the mouth, resembling a rat trap; large and ugly.
   • 2001, John Harris, Picture Of Defeat, page 75:

     He smiled, his wide rat-trap mouth splitting to show bad teeth.

Anagrams

• Parratt