SAP


Meaning of SAP in English

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

Oxford English vocab.      Оксфордский английский словарь.