TRIPWIRE

Etymology

Noun

tripwire (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.

• Seeing the tripwire of a nearby bouncing Betty gave us cold chills, and we moved all the more slowly through the woods.

Any means of detecting intruders.

Synonyms

• tripline

• trip cord

Verb

tripwire (third-person singular simple present tripwires, present participle tripwiring, simple past and past participle tripwired)

(transitive) To set a tripwire mechanism in (a location).

Source: Wiktionary