understand trap

English

Verb

understand trap (third-person singular simple present understands trap, present participle understanding trap, simple past and past participle understood trap)

1. (slang, obsolete) To be conscious of any trickery; to be alert to one's own interests, to know what's going on.
   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 345:

     ‘Yes! yes!’ said Mr Doughty, another tradesman, ‘we understand trap, and so does our good neighbour.’

   • 1809, Washington Irving, A History of New York:

     Chapter III: Of Peter Stuyvesant's expedition into the East Country, showing that though an old bird, he did not understand trap.