honeypot

• honey pot

honey +‎ pot

• enPR: hŭn'ē-pŏt

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, vol. 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.
      • 2007, "Data leak: Cyber sherlocks outwit hackers," The Economic Times, 12 Oct. (retrieved 29 June 2008),

        Computer experts install honeypots to trick hackers.

   6. (chiefly Britain) A draw: a place which attracts visitors.
      • 2004, Bernice Davidson, "England 2004: Bright lights on the water," Telegraph.co.uk, 13 Mar. (retrieved 28 June 2008),

        Superb Roman remains, Georgian architecture and countless museums justify Bath's position as a tourist honeypot.

3. (obsolete, euphemistic) A chamberpot.
4. (obsolete, euphemistic) A slop bucket.

• (vagina): See Thesaurus:vagina
• (chamber pot): See Thesaurus:chamber pot

• honeynet
• honeytoken
• honeytrap

honeypot m (plural honeypots)

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

• pote de mel