snare

1
[ snair ]
See synonyms for snare on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.

  2. anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.

  1. Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumors or the like by the roots or at the base.

verb (used with object),snared, snar·ing.
  1. to catch with a snare; entangle.

  2. to catch or involve by trickery or wile: to snare her into going.

Origin of snare

1
First recorded before 1100; Middle English (noun and verb); cognate with Old Norse snara,Middle Low German snare,Old High German snar(a)ha

synonym study For snare

1, 2. See trap1.

Other words for snare

Other words from snare

  • snareless, adjective
  • snarer, noun
  • snar·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·snared, adjective

Other definitions for snare (2 of 2)

snare2
[ snair ]

noun
  1. one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiraled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.

Origin of snare

2
1680–90; <Middle Low German snare or Middle Dutch snaer string; replacing Old English snēr string of a musical instrument

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use snare in a sentence

  • I have taken to the roads because there is a wild beast I would overtake, and these people are good snarers of beasts.

    Where There is Nothing | William Butler Yeats
  • All very businesslike; not the least cause in the world for any one to suspect that a new trap was being set by the snarers.

    The Million Dollar Mystery | Harold MacGrath
  • The snarers of birds have formed themselves into armed bands.

British Dictionary definitions for snare (1 of 2)

snare1

/ (snɛə) /


noun
  1. a device for trapping birds or small animals, esp a flexible loop that is drawn tight around the prey

  2. a surgical instrument for removing certain tumours, consisting of a wire loop that may be drawn tight around their base to sever or uproot them

  1. anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares

verb(tr)
  1. to catch (birds or small animals) with a snare

  2. to catch or trap in or as if in a snare; capture by trickery

Origin of snare

1
Old English sneare, from Old Norse snara; related to Old High German snaraha

Derived forms of snare

  • snareless, adjective
  • snarer, noun

British Dictionary definitions for snare (2 of 2)

snare2

/ (snɛə) /


noun
  1. music a set of gut strings wound with wire fitted against the lower drumhead of a snare drum. They produce a rattling sound when the drum is beaten: See snare drum

Origin of snare

2
C17: from Middle Dutch snaer or Middle Low German snare string; related to Gothic snōrjō basket

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012