The AI-powered English dictionary
plural tripwires
A cord or wire arranged so that when snagged or pulled by an intruder, it will trigger a detector or trap or a device, such as a land mine. quotations examples
They watched the two ghost-hunters run own the corridor and go crashing over the trip-wire.
1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 119
Thirteen people were injured in August 1957 when this Bristol freighter skidded on the runway at Southend Airport when landing with a flight from Calais. It ploughed through the boundary fence, but thankfully stopped short of the railway and the 1,500V overhead wires. A tripwire was installed on this section of Shenfield-Southend line to warn train drivers of instances such as this.
2020 December 30, Tim Dunn, “The railway's mechanical marvels”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption
Any means of detecting intruders or attackers. quotations examples
The continued presence of U.S. troops as a tripwire force in Macedonia is an increasingly risky venture.
1994, Diplomat, volume 5, page 67
third-person singular simple present tripwires, present participle tripwiring, simple past and past participle tripwired
(transitive) To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location). examples