Other forms: mousetraps
A mousetrap is a device for catching or killing mice. If mice have overtaken your home, running around your living room at night and making nests in your silverware drawer, it might be time to get some mousetraps.
The most basic type of mousetrap has a metal bar that springs loose when a mouse steps on it and snaps hard enough to kill it. Other mousetraps trap a curious mouse so that you can release it (preferably far away from your house). Mice are tempted into any kind of mousetrap by edible bait like cheese or peanut butter. The word mousetrap was used figuratively in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to mean a "trick intended to ensnare someone."