SNARE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does snare mean? 

• SNARE (noun)
  The noun SNARE has 5 senses:

1. something (often something deceptively attractive) that catches you unawares

2. a small drum with two heads and a snare stretched across the lower head

3. a surgical instrument consisting of wire hoop that can be drawn tight around the base of polyps or small tumors to sever them; used especially in body cavities

4. strings stretched across the lower head of a snare drum; they make a rattling sound when the drum is hit

5. a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose

  Familiarity information: SNARE used as a noun is common.

• SNARE (verb)
  The verb SNARE has 2 senses:

1. catch in or as if in a trap

2. entice and trap

  Familiarity information: SNARE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SNARE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something (often something deceptively attractive) that catches you unawares

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

snare; trap

Context example:

it was all a snare and delusion

Hypernyms ("snare" is a kind of...):

design; plan (an arrangement scheme)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "snare"):

iron trap (a trap from which there is no escape)

speed trap (a trap arranged on a roadway for catching speeders)

Derivation:

snare (entice and trap)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small drum with two heads and a snare stretched across the lower head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

side drum; snare; snare drum

Hypernyms ("snare" is a kind of...):

drum; membranophone; tympan (a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end)

Meronyms (parts of "snare"):

snare (strings stretched across the lower head of a snare drum; they make a rattling sound when the drum is hit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A surgical instrument consisting of wire hoop that can be drawn tight around the base of polyps or small tumors to sever them; used especially in body cavities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("snare" is a kind of...):

surgical instrument (a medical instrument used in surgery)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Strings stretched across the lower head of a snare drum; they make a rattling sound when the drum is hit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("snare" is a kind of...):

string (a tightly stretched cord of wire or gut, as a part of an instrument or a tennis racket)

Holonyms ("snare" is a part of...):

side drum; snare; snare drum (a small drum with two heads and a snare stretched across the lower head)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

gin; noose; snare

Hypernyms ("snare" is a kind of...):

trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)

Meronyms (parts of "snare"):

slipknot (a knot at the end of a cord or rope that can slip along the cord or rope around which it is made)

Derivation:

snare (catch in or as if in a trap)

• SNARE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they snare    ... he / she / it snares   
Past simple: snared   
Past participle: snared   
-ing form: snaring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Catch in or as if in a trap

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

ensnare; entrap; snare; trammel; trap

Context example:

The men trap foxes

Hypernyms (to "snare" is one way to...):

capture; catch (capture as if by hunting, snaring, or trapping)

Domain category:

hunt; hunting (the pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snare"):

gin (trap with a snare)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They snare the animals

Derivation:

snare (a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose)

snarer (someone who sets snares for birds or small animals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Entice and trap

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

hook; snare

Context example:

The car salesman had snared three potential customers

Hypernyms (to "snare" is one way to...):

entice; lure; tempt (provoke someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises or persuasion)

Verb group:

accost; hook; solicit (approach with an offer of sexual favors)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

snare (something (often something deceptively attractive) that catches you unawares)

 Context examples 

The hunter is taken in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He lurked in the forest, avoiding discovery and robbing the snares at the rare intervals when game was caught.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But when Roland got home, he fell into the snares of another, who so fascinated him that he forgot the maiden.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Above all, shun the snares of women, for they are ever set for the foolish feet of the young.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And in this cache would be ammunition for his empty gun, fish-hooks and lines, a small net—all the utilities for the killing and snaring of food.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

So the promise was made, and very faithfully did Jim keep it, for many a time when I have wanted him to go fishing or rabbit-snaring, he has remembered that it was his day for Miss Hinton, and has tramped off to Anstey Cross.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If, by the course which may relieve the mind of the decent man you brought here (for whom I am sorry—I can say no more), my son may be saved from again falling into the snares of a designing enemy, well!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If you think so, you must have a strange opinion of me; you must regard me as a plotting profligate—a base and low rake who has been simulating disinterested love in order to draw you into a snare deliberately laid, and strip you of honour and rob you of self-respect.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We hoped to snare a falcon, said he presently, but we netted a carrion-crow.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I taught him his exercises, for he never loved the sight of a book, and he in turn made me box and wrestle, tickle trout on the Adur, and snare rabbits on Ditching Down, for his hands were as active as his brain was slow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)