Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A leather-covered bludgeon with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon.
- transitive verb To hit or knock out with a sap.
- noun A covered trench or tunnel dug to a point near or within an enemy position.
- intransitive verb To undermine the foundations of (a fortification).
- intransitive verb To dig a sap.
- noun The watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to the various tissues.
- noun Health and energy; vitality.
- noun Slang A foolish or gullible person.
- transitive verb To drain (a tree, for example) of sap.
- transitive verb To deplete or weaken gradually: synonym: deplete.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
saphead . - To act like a sap; play the part of a ninny or a soft fellow.
- noun A tool for digging; a mattock.
- noun [⟨ sap, verb] Milit., a narrow ditch or trench by which approach is made to a fortress or besieged place when within range of fire.
- To undermine; render unstable by digging into or eating away the foundations, or, figuratively, by some analogous insidious or invisible process; impair the stability of, by insidious means: as, to
sap a wall; to sap a person's constitution, or the morals of a community. - Milit., to approach or pierce with saps or trenches.
- To dig or use saps or trenches; hence, to impair stability by insidious means.
- noun The juice or fluid which circulates in all plants, being as indispensable to vegetable life as is the blood to animal life.
- noun Hence The juice or fluid the presence of which in anything is characteristic of a healthy, fresh, or vigorous condition; blood.
- noun The alburnum of a tree; the exterior part of the wood, next to the bark; sap-wood.
- noun In archery, the light-colored portion of a bowstaff composed of the sap-wood. This portion forms the back of a self-bow.
- noun A quarryman's name for rock which is partially decayed and which exhibits this quality by iron stains and other discolorations. It is usually thrown away.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; to execute saps.
- transitive verb To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
- transitive verb (Mil.) To pierce with saps.
- transitive verb To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.
- noun The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.
- noun The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.
- noun Slang A simpleton; a saphead; a milksop.
- noun (Bot.) any large fungus of the genus Polyporus. See
Polyporus . - noun a dull light green pigment prepared from the juice of the ripe berries of the
Rhamnus catharticus , or buckthorn. It is used especially by water-color artists. - noun the dry rot. See under
Dry . - noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of small American woodpeckers of the genus Sphyrapicus, especially the yellow-bellied woodpecker (
S. varius ) of the Eastern United States. They are so named because they puncture the bark of trees and feed upon the sap. The name is loosely applied to other woodpeckers. - noun (Bot.) a vessel that conveys sap.
- noun (Mil.) A narrow ditch or trench made from the foremost parallel toward the glacis or covert way of a besieged place by digging under cover of gabions, etc.
- noun (Mil.) a fascine about three feet long, used in sapping, to close the crevices between the gabions before the parapet is made.
- noun (Mil.) a large gabion, six or seven feet long, filled with fascines, which the sapper sometimes rolls along before him for protection from the fire of an enemy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The
juice ofplants of any kind, especially theascending anddescending juices orcirculating fluid essential tonutrition . - noun uncountable The
sap-wood , oralburnum , of a tree. - noun slang, countable A
simpleton ; asaphead ; amilksop ; anaive person. - noun countable, US, slang A short wooden
club ; a leather-covered handweapon ; ablackjack . - verb transitive, slang To strike with a sap (with a
blackjack ). - noun military A
narrow ditch ortrench made from the foremostparallel toward theglacis orcovert way of abesieged place by digging undercover ofgabions , etc. - verb transitive To
subvert bydigging orwearing away ; tomine ; toundermine ; todestroy thefoundation of. - verb transitive, military To
pierce with saps. - verb To make
unstable orinfirm ; tounsettle ; toweaken . - verb transitive To gradually
weaken . - verb intransitive To
proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; toexecute saps — 12
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A little in this way -- but these similes are very imperfect, and will not bear close application -- the sap rises in a tree, stealing up branch by branch; and it is then called _ascending sap_.
The History of a Mouthful of Bread And its effect on the organization of men and animals Jean Mac�� 1854
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Let's hope Mr. C makes it off that island; otherwise, there's a very good chance the poor sap is there forever.
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But, my father (83 yrs) has fond memories of tasting the sap from the buckets on the way to and from school when he was growing up in Vermont.
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But them sickenin ', sap-headed stiffs, with the grit of rabbits and the silk of mangy ky-yi's, a-cheerin' me -- ME!
CHAPTER X 2010
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Dad helps the uncles pour sap from the tree buckets into gathering buckets and then into a giant barrel on the sled.
Chicken Spaghetti: 2009
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Then they showed us how the Maple sap is turned into syrup (lots of boiling), and they let us taste maple syrup, maple sugar, and maple sap -- the last, one child apply described as tasting a bit like a wet stick.
Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009
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You can also, though take pine sap from a pine tree, and that will burn for a while.
How do you find wood for a survival fire, if the snow pack on the ground is 3-4'? 2009
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I really surprised the poor sap is still alive ... “reached into his sweatshirt, retrieved a mobile phone, and proceeded to place acall.”
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You can also, though take pine sap from a pine tree, and that will burn for a while.
How do you find wood for a survival fire, if the snow pack on the ground is 3-4'? 2009
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Dad helps the uncles pour sap from the tree buckets into gathering buckets and then into a giant barrel on the sled.
whichbe commented on the word sap
Contronym: having the good stuff, or losing the good stuff.
October 9, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word sap
Also a military term; see sappers.
October 9, 2008
minouchette commented on the word sap
a finale hopper
October 8, 2010
alexisbellido commented on the word sap
More than 90 million people across the Midwest and Northeast were bracing for a major snowstorm and blizzard-like conditions, followed by dangerous cold that could sap the melting power of salt and threaten lives.
January 2, 2014