sap
pronunciation
How to pronounce sap in British English:
UK [sæp]
How to pronounce sap in American English:
US [sæp]
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- Noun:
- a watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant
- a person who lacks good judgment
- a piece of metal covered by leather with a flexible handle; used for hitting people
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- Verb:
- deplete
- excavate the earth beneath
Word Origin
- sap
- sap: English has three distinct words sap. The oldest, ‘plant-juice’ [OE], goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *sappam, which also produced German saft ‘juice’. This in turn was a descendant of Indo-European *sapon-, from which came Latin sapa ‘new wine’. Sap ‘undermine’ [16] was borrowed via French saper from Italian zappare, which may have been ultimately of Arabic origin.Its original literal sense ‘dig a trench or tunnel underneath in order to attack’ has now been largely superseded by the metaphorical ‘weaken’, which has been heavily influenced by sap ‘plant-juice’ (from the notion of ‘draining sap from a plant’). The colloquial sap ‘fool’ [19] may be short for an earlier sapskull, a compound formed from sap in the now seldom heard sense ‘sapwood’ – hence ‘wooden head’.
- sap (n.1)
- "liquid in a plant," Old English sæpm from Proto-Germanic *sapam (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch sap, Old High German saf, German Saft "juice"), from PIE root *sab- "juice, fluid" (cognates: Sanskrit sabar- "sap, milk, nectar," Latin sapere "to taste," Irish sug, Russian soku "sap," Lithuanian sakas "tree-gum"). As a verb meaning "To drain the sap from," 1725.
- sap (n.2)
- "simpleton," 1815, originally especially in Scottish and English schoolboy slang, probably from earlier sapskull (1735), saphead (1798), from sap as a shortened form of sapwood "soft wood between the inner bark and the heartwood" (late 14c.), from sap (n.1) + wood (n.); so called because it conducts the sap; compare sappy.
- sap (v.1)
- "dig a trench toward the enemy's position," 1590s, from Middle French saper, from sappe "spade," from Late Latin sappa "spade" (source also of Italian zappa, Spanish zapa "spade"). Extended sense "weaken or destroy insidiously" is from 1755, probably influenced by the verb form of sap (n.1), on the notion of "draining the vital sap from." Related: Sapped; sapping.
- sap (v.2)
- "hit with a sap," 1926, from sap (n.3). Related: Sapped; sapping.
- sap (n.3)
- "club, stick for hitting," 1899, from shortening of sapwood (see sap (n.2)) or sapling.
Example
- 1. But even a smaller increase would sap growth and raise inflation .
- 2. So things that sap our energy are likely to hinder our intellectual growth .
- 3. But delay would sap confidence , a crucial condition for sustained economic recovery .
- 4. Such fissures opening up at the top can only sap the prime minister 's popularity .
- 5. 1848 : John curtis created the first american packaged gum using spruce sap .