understand trap

present singular third person understands trap · participle present understanding trap · participle past understood trap · past understood trap

1. obsoleteslangTo be conscious of any trickery; to be alert to one's own interests, to know what's going on.

   ‘Yes! yes!’ said Mr Doughty, another tradesman, ‘we understand trap, and so does our good neighbour.’

   1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 345

   1 more example

   Chapter III: Of Peter Stuyvesant's expedition into the East Country, showing that though an old bird, he did not understand trap.

   1809, Washington Irving, A History of New York