the.com/booby trap
A hidden device built to injure whoever disturbs it, long after the person who set it is gone.
means A hidden hazard rigged to hurt or startle whoever disturbs it, triggered by the victim's own innocent action.
from The 'booby' here is the old English slang for a dolt or fool (likely related to Spanish 'bobo,' meaning stupid), the same root behind 'booby prize.' A booby trap was originally a harmless practical joke — a basin of water balanced over a door, say — set to soak the next fool who walked through. The phrase darkened in the 20th century, especially through wartime use, into something lethal: concealed explosives wired to ordinary objects, left behind for an unsuspecting enemy to trigger.
- name origin
- booby meant fool, not anatomy
- war use
- WWII soldiers wired corpses and doors alike
- core design
- victim supplies the triggering force
- legal status
- banned on civilians under international law