Booby trap
device or setup intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human or non-human animal
A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise another human being or an animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap may be set to act upon trespassers that enter restricted areas, and it can be triggered when the victim performs an action (e.g., opening a door, picking something up, or switching something on). It can also be triggered by vehicles driving along a road, as in the case of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Booby traps should not be confused with mantraps which are designed to catch a person. Lethal booby traps are often used in warfare, particularly guerrilla warfare, and traps designed to cause injury or pain are also sometimes used by criminals wanting to protect drugs or other illicit property, and by some owners of legal property who wish to protect it from theft. Booby traps which merely cause discomfort or embarrassment are a popular form of practical joke.
Etymology
The Spanish word bobo translates to "stupid, daft, naïve, simple, fool, idiot, clown, funny man, one who is easily cheated" and similar pejorative terms. The slang of bobo, bubie, translates to "dunce". Variations of this word exist in other languages (such as Latin), with their meaning being "to stammer".
The public source identifies “Booby trap” as device or setup intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human or non-human animal. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Booby, trap and device.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Booby trap”, the useful work is to connect “device or setup intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human or non-human animal” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1568202. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Booby trap” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.