trapdoor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a hinged or sliding door set into a floor, ceiling, or stage

   The censor was imagined as standing beside a trapdoor between conscious and unconscious thought.

2. 2
   noun

   a hidden means of access to a computer system, or secret information that makes a hard computation easy

   The audit searched the program for an undocumented trapdoor.

A compound of trap + door. The literal door can drop or conceal an opening; computing and cryptography extended that hidden-access idea to secret mechanisms in systems and functions.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary