Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English sæp; cognate with Dutch sap; akin to German Saft juice, Old Norse safi; in def. 5 a shortening of saphead

Example Sentences

Tree sap will freeze if it gets cold enough, but many winter.

The sap will start circulating and take them out of dormancy, then it gets cold again and freezes the rose.

In particular, they have discovered an enzyme called polyphenoloxidase that is responsible for making its rubbery sap coagulate.

EXPAND

Tree sap will freeze if it gets cold enough, but many winter.

The sap will start circulating and take them out of dormancy, then it gets cold again and freezes the rose.

In particular, they have discovered an enzyme called polyphenoloxidase that is responsible for making its rubbery sap coagulate.

Amber is a semiprecious gemstone formed from fossilized tree sap.

The poor sap keeps gambling for fear of missing out.

The sap from its lethal-looking pointy leaves can be used as arrow-tip poison or can be dumped into a creek to kill fish.

Before using cut flowers in arrangements, dip stems in boiling water or hold in a flame for a few seconds to prevent sap bleed.

Extremely temperamental connections sap the fun out of things.

We pruned a broken branch from our maple last weekend, and the tree started to ooze a lot of watery sap.

Having fed on root sap during their underground life, mature cicadas have no need to eat and indeed no mouths.

Sometimes the sap entombs ancient insects, preserving them in exquisite detail.

He's about die-hard qualities, the devil's luck, and self-involved vengeful sap becoming anti-heroism.

Cut a handful of peach twigs, which are filled with sap at this season of the year.

Be sure to keep milky sap away from eyes, as it can cause severe damage.

Maneuvering around a browser using arrow buttons can sap the fun from the.

Early in the process, when sap production is heaviest, you may need to check more often.

The collective budget-cutting will sap the recovery.

Indians made canoe paddles from the wood, and maple sugar can be obtained from the sap.

When kept in the lab, the only way to feed them is to provide them with the trees so they can drink the sap from the roots.

Rubbing the knife with cooking oil will remove the sap.

Make sure you have room for it--cutting it back is dangerous because of its caustic sap.

The heat and pace of the playa may sap your desire to prepare full meals once you get there.

According to the patent, the sap can be squeezed from the leaves or can be obtained by crushing the plant.

But even a smaller increase would sap growth and raise inflation.

For example, treehopers that spend their entire development sucking sap from one stem do not communicate about.

We take a look at everything from gathering quince to collecting birch sap.

Sap flow, another measure of water use, also dropped.

Tree sap will freeze if it gets cold enough, but many.

Banks argue that some rules designed to boost transparency will instead sap liquidity.

The saw blade bites into the hardwood and spits out yellow sawdust and rivulets of foul-smelling sap the color of blood.

The software even considers age and girth when simulating the amount of sap within the trunk.

But prosperity did not sap the district of its cultural eclecticism.

In the euro area, especially, austerity plans will further sap domestic demand.

Yellowbellied sapsuckers drill holes into trees one day and return the next to feast on the sap that has filled the holes.

The only visitors that drank sap from both plants were male mosquitoes.

Poison ivy, oak, or sumac poisoning is an allergic reaction that results from touching the sap of these plants.

Such hits can also sap investor confidence less directly, by raising awkward questions about managers' competence.

Or mold soccer balls out of the sap from a certain liana.

The sap may be on the plant, in the ashes of burned.

All such measures sap an economy's strength and make everyone worse off.

When they are healthy, piñon can fend off beetle attacks by producing sap.

For maple sap to flow, the weather should be warm by day and cold at night.

And those costs sap funding from humbler but more efficient schemes.

One guy in the village had a full time job smearing sticky sap on tree branches frequented by the birds.

Used as an emulsifier, the sap keeps ingredients in carbonated beverages from settling at the bottom.

Set the price of admission too high and you produce rows of empty seats that sap the energy of a live performance.

The pill-shaped mealybugs suck sap from the crops-a main ingredient of tapioca-causing them to shrivel and die.

Amber, being the sap of trees, is organic material composed mainly of carbon.

Although hard times may change migrants' destinations, they do not sap the will to move in search of a better life.

With autumn comes the flowing sap that makes maple syrup for pancakes.

Poinsettia poisoning occurs when someone touches the sap of the poinsettia plant or eats parts of the plant.

To produce crystalline sugar, large amounts of fuel were needed to heat the sugar sap and evaporate the water it contained.

The sap contains a compound similar to sulphuric acid.

The main difference is in an additive that is used to prevent the maple sap from foaming as it is being turned into syrup.

Contact with its sap can bring on blisters in the sun due to phototoxic chemicals.

What's more, suckers are extraneous and can sap energy from the tree.

But both rovers defied predictions that dust buildup on the solar panels would fatally sap power.

He sipped tea made from the toxic sap of the urushi tree, used to make lacquer.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

Fortification. a deep, narrow trench constructed so as to form an approach to a besieged place or an enemy's position.

verb (used with object)

Fortification.

to approach (a besieged place or an enemy position) by means of deep, narrow trenches protected by gabions or parapets.

to dig such trenches in (ground).

to undermine; weaken or destroy insidiously.

verb (used without object)

Fortification. to dig a sap.

Origin:
1585–95; < French sape (noun), derivative of saper to dig a trench < Italian zappare, a military term, based on zappa hoe (compare dialectal Italian zappo he-goat < ?)

Synonyms
3. impair, enfeeble, deplete, exhaust, enervate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To sap

Collins

World English Dictionary

sap¹ (sæp)

—n
1.	a solution of mineral salts, sugars, etc, that circulates in a plant
2.	any vital body fluid
3.	energy; vigour
4.	slang a gullible or foolish person
5.	another name for sapwood

—vb , saps, sapping, sapped
6.	to drain of sap

[Old English sæp; related to Old High German sapf, German Saft juice, Middle Low German sapp, Sanskrit sabar milk juice]

'sapless¹

—*adj*

sap² (sæp)

—n
1.	a deep and narrow trench used to approach or undermine an enemy position, esp in siege warfare

—vb , saps, sapping, sapped
2.	to undermine (a fortification, etc) by digging saps
3.	(tr) to weaken

[C16 zappe, from Italian zappa spade, of uncertain origin; perhaps from Old Italian (dialect) zappo a goat]

SAP¹

—*abbreviation for*
	South African Police

SAP² (sæp)

—*n acronym for*
	Standard Assessment Procedure, the recognized performance indicator for measuring energy efficiency in buildings

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

sap

"liquid in a plant," O.E. sæp, from P.Gmc. *sapom (cf. M.L.G., M.Du., Du. sap, O.H.G. saf, Ger. Saft "juice"), from PIE *sapon- (cf. L. sapere "to taste"), from base *sab- "juice, fluid" (cf. Skt. sabar- "sap, milk, nectar").

EXPAND

sap

"simpleton," 1815, probably from earlier sapskull (1735), from sap as a shortened form of sapwood "soft wood between the inner bark and the heartwood," from sap (n.1) + wood, so called because it conducts the sap; cf. sappy.

sap

"weaken or destroy insidiously," 1755, originally "dig a trench toward the enemy's position" (1598), from M.Fr. saper, from sappe "spade," from L.L. sappa "spade" (cf. It. zappa, Sp. zapa "spade"). The sense of "weaken" probably was influenced by the verb (1725) form of sap

(n.1) on the notion of "draining the vital sap from."

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

sap (sāp) Pronunciation Key

The watery fluid that circulates through a plant that has vascular tissues. Sap moving up the xylem carries water and minerals, while sap moving down the phloem carries water and food.
See cell sap.

Slang Dictionary

sap definition

n.
a stupid person. : That poor sap thinks he can convince them.
n.
a blackjack. (Underworld.) : Bart had a sap in his pocket when they arrested him for possession.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

SAP definition

1. SAP AG (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing).
2. Service Advertising Protocol.
3. Service Access Point.
4. Symbolic Assembler Program.
(1999-05-26)

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

SAP

service access point
soon as possible (shortwave transmission)

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

sap

watery fluid of plants. Cell sap is a fluid found in the vacuoles (small cavities) of the living cell; it contains variable amounts of food and waste materials, inorganic salts, and nitrogenous compounds. Xylem sap carries soil nutrients (e.g., dissolved minerals) from the root system to the leaves; the water is then lost through transpiration. Maple sap is xylem sap, containing some sugar in late winter. Phloem, or sieve-tube, sap is the fluid carrying sugar from leaves to other parts of the plant in the summer. See also cohesion hypothesis.

Learn more about sap with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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"Each is under the most sacred obligation not to squander the material committed to him, not to sap his strength in folly and vice, and to see at the least that he delivers a product worthy the labor and cost which have been expended on him."

-Anna Julia Cooper

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