Trap (carriage)

A trap is a light two- or four-wheeled carriage, with two passenger seats back-to-back, and a tailgate-like trapdoor at the rear which supports the feet of the rear passengers. In the eighteenth century, the first carriage to be called a trap was a gig with a hinged trapdoor, under which was a place to carry hunting dogs. In late nineteenth century US, four-wheeled dogcarts with convertible seats also started to become known as traps.

Today, "trap" is slang for almost any small two- or four-wheeled carriage in the UK in the same way the word "buggy" has become a generic term for "carriage" in the United States.