I. ˈsap noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sæp; akin to Old High German saf sap, Middle Dutch sap
1.
a. : the fluid part of a plant ; specifically : a watery solution of gases (as carbon dioxide), salts and other materials from the soil, and organic products of metabolism that circulates through the vascular system, carries raw materials to the peripheral chlorophyll-bearing cells, translocates the products of metabolism to other parts of the plant for use or storage, and is a major commercial source of sugar in sugarcane, various palms, and the sugar maple
b.
(1) : a body fluid (as blood, lymph, saliva, or semen) essential to life or health or characteristic of a healthy, fresh, or vigorous condition
(2) : bodily health and vigor : vitality
the sap of youth, the sapience of age
c. chiefly Scotland : a beverage taken with solid food
d. : moisture in stone
2.
a. : sapwood
b. saps plural : lumber containing much sapwood and inferior in quality to firsts and seconds
3.
a. Britain : grind 3
b. : a person unusually liable to be taken in (as by his own sentimentality or gullibility or by a deliberate trick) : simpleton , fool
fleecing one sap at a time — Alva Johnston
4. : outside stone (as in a quarry) softened by weathering
5. : a blackjack, policeman's club, or other object used as a bludgeon
his sap made of rocks in a sock — Frank McIntyre
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French sape, sappe spade, hoe, from Old Italian zappa, perhaps from Old Italian dialect zappo goat
1.
a. obsolete : the act or process of undermining an enemy fortification
b. : the act or process of digging a trench from within
c. : the act or process of weakening or destroying by stealth or devious methods
an endeavor by slow sap to weaken the authority of some of the writers — C.J.Ellicott
2.
a. : a trench prolonged in the desired direction by digging away the earth at its head from within the trench itself and usually throwing the earth up as a parapet on the exposed flank and on the end as additional protection to the working party — compare flying sap
b. : a trench or gallery dug from an attacker's lines to a point beneath an enemy's fortifications to gain entrance or to destroy them with explosives
III. verb
( sapped ; sapped ; sapping ; saps )
Etymology: Middle French saper, sapper, probably from Old Italian zappare, from zappa spade, hoe
intransitive verb
: to proceed by or execute a sap
transitive verb
1. : to subvert by digging or eroding the substratum or foundation : undermine
the village … may be slowly sapped away by ants moving blindly over the earth — David Garnett
2.
a. : to diminish gradually the supply or intensity of
his driving ambition … was slowly sapping away his fundamental decency and idealism — F.G.Slaughter
old organisms do produce some substance which saps their vigor — Waldemar Kaempffert
b. : to exhaust the energy or vitality of
it isn't merely danger which saps these young men — Frederic Morton
3. : to operate against or pierce by a sap
Synonyms: see weaken
IV. verb
( sapped ; sapped ; sapping ; saps )
Etymology: sap (I)
transitive verb
1.
a. : to drain or deprive of its sap
b. : to draw off (sap)
2. : to heat flue-cured tobacco to a high temperature for a short interval after its being hung in a barn to drive off moisture and start the curing
3. : to knock out with a sap
whether a guy fell or whether he was sapped — Police Gazette
intransitive verb
Britain : to act the sap : grind
V. abbreviation
sapwood