Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
pitfall and gin en · NOUN
Meanings
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(figuratively) An obstacle or impediment, or anything that might trick or ensnare someone.
"All I know of this old trail [...] is what you can see. I got it from the highroad. I was covering the kite who went in. Where it leads, and if it's beset with "pitfall and gin", I can't say."
1930, Sax Rohmer, The Day the World Ended, published 1969, page xi. 103:Thanks, however, to the almost uncanny faculty of the Gurkha for avoiding, in the dark, “pitfall and gin" — in this case tent ropes, ravines, and terraces, these last in some places giving a drop of twelve feet or even more'
1930, History of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) 1858 to 1928, page 352:NOT in the same "head ache" class as Mr O. Richardson's "New Year's Gift," but still with a few pitfalls and gins for the unwary, this innocent six-card problem has a certain novelty of its own.
1949 January 13, The Herald, Melbourne, page 13, column 2:
Forms