rattrap

[ rat-trap ]

/ ˈrætˌtræp /

a device for catching rats.

a run-down, filthy, or dilapidated place.

a difficult, involved, or entangling situation.

Origin of rattrap

1425–75; late Middle English. See rat, trap¹

rattletrap, rattling, rattly, ratton, rattoon, rattrap, ratty, ratushinskaya, rau, raucous, raunch

In it lay the deceased lady with her long slit of a mouth shut like a rat-trap, and her hard eyes fixed on him.

A Book of Ghosts |Sabine Baring-Gould
The rat-trap contained two large rats; one of these she turned into a coachman, and the other into a postilion.

Cinderella |Anonymous
Its nothing but a rat-trap but how I shall hate to see it go!

Maida's Little Shop |Inez Haynes Irwin
Under his arm he carried a small iron-cage, patterned something like a rat-trap.

Parrot & Co. |Harold MacGrath

Saying this, he plunged his hand into one of his pockets, and produced a pair of handcuffs, like a rat-trap.

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland |John Mackay Wilson

rat-trap

a device for catching rats

informal a type of bicycle pedal having serrated steel foot pads and a toe clip