1. n. & v.
--n.
1. the vital juice circulating in plants.
2 vigour; vitality.
3 SAPWOOD.
4 US sl. a bludgeon (orig. one made from a sapling).
--v.tr. (sapped, sapping)
1. drain or dry (wood) of sap.
2 exhaust the vigour of (my energy had been sapped by disappointment).
3 remove the sapwood from (a log).
4 US sl. hit with a sap.
Phrases and idioms:
sap-green n.
1. the pigment made from buckthorn berries.
2 the colour of this.
--adj. of this colour.
Derivatives:
sapful adj. sapless adj.
Etymology: OE s{aelig}p prob. f. Gmc 2. n. & v.
--n.
1. a tunnel or trench to conceal assailants' approach to a fortified place; a covered siege-trench.
2 an insidious or slow undermining of a belief, resolution, etc.
--v. (sapped, sapping)
1. intr. a dig a sap or saps. b approach by a sap.
2 tr. undermine; make insecure by removing the foundations.
3 tr. destroy insidiously.
Etymology: ult. f. It. zappa spade, spadework, in part through F sappe sap(p)er, prob. of Arab. orig. 3. n. sl. a foolish person.
Etymology: abbr. of sapskull f. SAP(1) sapwood + SKULL