caltrop

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cal·trop

(kăl′trəp, kôl′-)

2. Any of various plants bearing small spiny fruits, especially of the genera Tribulus and Kallstroemia.

3. A metal device with four projecting spikes so arranged that when three of the spikes are on the ground, the fourth points upward, used as a hazard to pneumatic tires or to the hooves of horses.

[Middle English calketrappe, from Norman French and from Old English calcatrippe, thistle, both from Medieval Latin calcatrippa, thistle : possibly from Latin calcāre, to tread on; see calque + trappa, trap (of Germanic origin).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

caltrop

(ˈkæltrəp) or

caltrap

;

calthrop

(ˈkælθrəp)

1. (Plants) any tropical or subtropical plant of the zygophyllaceous genera Tribulus and Kallstroemia that have spiny burs or bracts

2. (Plants) water caltrop another name for water chestnut¹

3. (Plants) another name for the star thistle

4. (Military) military a four-spiked iron ball or four joined spikes laid upon the ground as a device to lame cavalry horses, puncture tyres, etc

[Old English calcatrippe (the plant), from Medieval Latin calcatrippa, probably from Latin calx heel + trippa trap¹]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cal•trop

or cal•trap

(ˈkæl trəp)

also cal•throp

(-θrəp)

n.

1. any of several plants having spiny heads or fruit, as those of the genera Tribulus and Kallstroemeria.

2. an iron ball with four projecting spikes, one of which always points upward when the ball is placed on the ground: used to obstruct cavalry, vehicles, etc.

[before 1000; Middle English calketrappe, Old English calcatrippe]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	caltrop - tropical annual procumbent poisonous subshrub having fruit that splits into five spiny nutlets; serious pasture weed devil's weed, Tribulus terestris genus Tribulus, Tribulus - annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs of warm regions subshrub, suffrutex - low-growing woody shrub or perennial with woody base
	2.	caltrop - a plant of the genus Trapa bearing spiny four-pronged edible nutlike fruits water chestnut, water chestnut plant genus Trapa, Trapa - small genus of Eurasian aquatic perennial herbs: water chestnut Jesuits' nut, Trapa natans, water caltrop - a variety of water chestnut ling, ling ko, Trapa bicornis - water chestnut whose spiny fruit has two rather than 4 prongs aquatic plant, hydrophyte, hydrophytic plant, water plant - a plant that grows partly or wholly in water whether rooted in the mud, as a lotus, or floating without anchorage, as the water hyacinth
	3.	caltrop - Mediterranean annual or biennial herb having pinkish to purple flowers surrounded by spine-tipped scales; naturalized in America Centauria calcitrapa, star-thistle centaury - any plant of the genus Centaurea

References in periodicals archive ?

Throughout the remaining years of the war, Alexios made strenuous efforts to prevent his troops from facing another Norman charge, which he tried to thwart with caltraps and upturned wagons.