honeypot

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See also: honey pot

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English hwny pott; equivalent to honey +‎ pot.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)
  • enPR: hŭn'ē-pŏt

Noun[edit]

honeypot (plural honeypots)

  1. A pot of honey.
  2. (figuratively) Something or someone similarly sweet or enticing, particularly:
    1. (US slang, dated) A romantic pet name; "honey".
    2. (slang) A vulva or vagina.
      • 2011, Mechele Armstrong, Code Monkey, →ISBN:
        "[S]he had the boss eating from her honeypot." Baxter rolled his eyes at the crude term for pussy, but Rodney did have a point.
    3. (espionage) A spy (typically attractive and female) who uses sex to trap and blackmail a target.
      • 1989, The Washingtonian, volume 24, page 25:
        And the American Embassy in Moscow was infiltrated thanks to “honeypots,” Soviet women who seduced Marine guards.
      • 1996, John H. Waller, The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War, Random House, →ISBN, page 226:
        Perhaps in order to create his own, more controlled environment for debaucherie, he set up a house of prostitution with Gestapo funds, justifying it as a "honeypot" with which to ensnare unsuspecting foreign diplomats.
      • 2004, Richard C.S. Trahair, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations, Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 353:
        The NKVD uses attractive ballerinas for honeypot espionage.
    4. A woman who attracts sexual attention from men.
      • 1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 90:
        Wherever the biggest bunch of men were in the room, you could bet Lisa'd be in the middle of them. What a honeypot.
      • 2012, Melvyn Bragg, Crossing The Lines, →ISBN:
        'You're turning into a honeypot,' he would say to her: it was a criticism of sins uncommitted, it was jeering as if she were getting above herself, it was a warning, no doubt of that, and there was something else which she could barely fathom, it was hurt at the approaching betrayal, a staving off of loss.
    5. (computer security) A trap set to detect or deflect attempts at unauthorized use of information systems.
    6. (chiefly Britain) A draw: a place which attracts visitors.
      • 2004 March 13, Bernice Davidson, “England 2004: Bright lights on the water”, in Telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 28 June 2008:
        Superb Roman remains, Georgian architecture and countless museums justify Bath's position as a tourist honeypot.
      • 2023 December 13, Ben Jones, “Night train dreams struggle to overcome railway realities”, in RAIL, number 998, page 24:
        ES's original intention was to run beyond Berlin to the tourist honeypots of Dresden and Prague, but a lack of suitable train paths means that won't be possible until March 2024.
  3. (obsolete, euphemistic) A chamberpot.
  4. (obsolete, euphemistic) A slop bucket.

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Portuguese[edit]

Noun[edit]

honeypot m (plural honeypots)

  1. (computer security) honeypot (a trap set to detect or deflect attempts at unauthorised use of information systems)
    Synonym: pote de mel