Etymology: definitions of snare and trap

[BOD]

looking through the online definitions it seems that a trap is a mechanical device often jawed or hinged and that a snare is simply a noose.

This may seem a silly thing to ask but I always thought of snares as a type of trap not as a separate category. In my work I keep running into the problem that when I say "trap" my colleagues correct me and say "snare".

while I am the only who has made traps and snares, however defined, I am wondering if I have been wrong all this while?

 

[Retired Member southey]

It sounds simple enough, but what about some of the bird snares? A far as I was aware a snare uses a noose whether the line of it is sprung or weighted, where as a trap either clubs, pins, fall over the prey or the prey falls into it.

 

[Adze]

At it's simplest definition the verb Trap simply means Catch. I would argue that while snares are always a type of trap - they're used to catch things, traps are not always types of snares.

A Ford Escort is a car, not all cars are Fords or Escorts.

 

[Joonsy]

Hi Bod, i might be wrong on this but for legal purposes i thought both traps and snares were referred to as ''Engines'', like i say i may be wrong, for everyday language a snare is surely a ''noose'' of somekind be it neck or leg hold whereas a trap could be ''jaws/caged/dead or live trap''

 

[JAG009]

Snare or trap ,dead fall what ever you want to call it, are all the same just by different name ,and are all designed to do one thing capture/trap/snare an animal



Jason