Sap
Pronunciation
- IPA: /sæp/
- Rhymes: -æp
Origin 1
From Old English sæp, from Proto-Germanic *sapÅn (cf. East Frisian/Dutch sap, German Saft, Icelandic safi), from Proto-Indo-European *sab-, Proto-Indo-European *sap- (cf. Welsh sybwydd 'fir', Latin sapa ("must, new wine"), Russian Ñопли (sópli, "snivel"), Armenian Õ°Õ¡Õ´ (ham, "juice, taste"), Avestan viÅ¡Äpa 'having poisonous juices', Sanskrit sabar 'juice, nectar'), from *sap 'to taste'. More at sage.
Noun
sap
(countable and uncountable; plural saps)Derived terms
Origin 2
Probably from sapling.
Verb
- (transitive, slang) To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).
Origin 3
From French saper (compare Spanish zapar and Italian zappare) from sape ("sort of scythe"), from Late Latin sappa ("sort of mattock").
Noun
sap
(plural saps)Derived terms
Verb
- (transitive) To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
- unknown date John DrydenNor safe their dwellings were, for sapped by floods,
Their houses fell upon their household gods. - (transitive, military) To pierce with saps.
- To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.
- 1850, Alfred Tennyson, Ring out the grief that saps the mind...
- (transitive) To gradually weaken.
- to sap one’s conscience
- (intransitive) To proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; to execute saps — 12
- unknown date The TatlerBoth assaults carried on by sapping.