steel trap

1. 1.

   an acute intelligence (an analogy based on the well-known sharpness of steel traps)

   “he's as sharp as a steel trap”

   “a mind like a steel trap”

   Broaderacuteness
2. 2.

   a trap made of steel with a strong spring and sharp toothlike projections to hold the prey

   Broadertrap

Questions about steel trap

What does steel trap mean?

steel trap means "an acute intelligence (an analogy based on the well-known sharpness of steel traps)". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

Is steel trap a common word?

steel trap is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.