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caltrop

UK/ˈkaltɹəp/US/ˈkæltɹəp/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: caltrops

A caltrop is a spiked device thrown down to lame horses. Scatter caltrops.

It has four points arranged so that one always stands upright however it lands. A caltrop was used against cavalry for two thousand years and against tyres in the last one.

Photographed by User:Bullenwächter · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of caltrop

  1. 1nouncaltropA spiked device thrown down to lame horses.C2

    “The road was sown with caltrops before dawn.”

caltrop is a weapon.

Where it comes from

From Latin calx, the heel, plus a word for a trap; the same name was given to a thistle with spiny seeds shaped the same way.

  1. Latin

    calx

  2. Medieval Latin

    calcatrippa — thistle

  3. Old English

    calcatrippe

  4. Middle English

    calketrappe

  5. English, today

    caltrop

Built from

  • calcare · Latin — to tread
  • trappa · Latin — trap

From Middle English calketrappe, from Old English calcatrippe, from Medieval Latin calcatrippa (“thistle”), from Latin calx or calcare (“to tread”) + trappa (“trap”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

caltrop in the wild

  • In modern times, caltrops are effective when used against wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires.

    Caltrop

  • Larrea is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae.

    Larrea

  • Zygophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains the bean-caper and caltrop.

    Zygophyllaceae

  • Trapa natans, the water caltrop, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the genus Trapa, family Lythraceae, grown as a food crop.

    Water caltrop

  • In feudal Japan, the fruits were used as substitutes for iron caltrops, an area denial weapon; they were sharp enough to penetrate the shoes of the period.

    Water caltrop

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the calx family

calciumcalculus

caltrop — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others