sap

See also sáp, sắp, s.ap., sæp, and SAP

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sæp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æp

Etymology 1

From Old English sæp, from Proto-Germanic *sapōn (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 сопли (sópli, “snivel”), Armenian համ (ham, “juice, taste”), Avestan višāpa 'having poisonous juices', Sanskrit sabar 'juice, nectar'), from *sap 'to taste'. More at sage.

Noun

Wikipedia sap (countable and uncountable; plural saps)

1. (uncountable) The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.
2. (uncountable) The sap-wood, or alburnum, of a tree.
3. (slang, countable) A simpleton; a saphead; a milksop; a naive person.

Derived terms

terms derived from sap

crude sap elaborated sap sap ball sap green saphead

sapling sap poison sap rot sapsucker sap tube

Translations

juice of plant

Catalan: saba (ca) f. Chamicuro: ijsana'to Czech: míza (cs) f. Dutch: sap (nl) n. Finnish: mahla (fi) French: sève (fr) f. German: Saft (de) m. Italian: linfa (it) f.

Korean: 즙 (汁, jeub, jeup), 수액 (樹液, suaeg, -aek) Norwegian: sevje (no) f. Portuguese: seiva (pt) Russian: сок (sok) m. Slovak: miazga (sk) f. Spanish: savia (es) Swahili: utomvu (sw) Swedish: sav (sv) c.

sapwood of a tree

Dutch: spint (nl) n., spinthout (nl) n. German: Mantelholz n., Splint m.

Italian: alburno (it) m. Russian: сок (sok) m., живица (živíca) f.

slang: saphead

Dutch: slappeling (nl) m., imbeciel (nl) m., idioot (nl) m., simpele (nl) m. Finnish: hölmö (fi) French: naïf (fr), nigaud (fr) Hebrew: פראייר (he) (frayer) m.

Italian: sempliciotto (it) m. Norwegian: tosk (no) m. Spanish: simplon (es) m.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: succo

Etymology 2

Probably from sapling.

Noun

sap (plural saps)

1. (countable, US, slang) A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.

Translations

leather-covered hand weapon

Dutch: ploertendoder (nl) m.

Italian: manganello (it) m.

Verb

sap (third-person singular simple present saps, present participle sapping, simple past and past participle sapped)

1. (transitive, slang) To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).

Translations

strike with a sap

Dutch: knuppelen (nl)

Etymology 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)

1. (military) 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.

Derived terms

• sap fagot
• sap roller
• sapper

Translations

narrow ditch or trench

Finnish: juoksuhauta (most often “juoksuhauta” would translate into English as “trench”. In Finnish the same word covers also “sap”.)

Icelandic: skotgröf (is) f. Manx: fo-chlash (gv) f.

Verb

sap (third-person singular simple present saps, present participle sapping, simple past and past participle sapped)

1. (transitive) To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden

     Nor safe their dwellings were, for sapped by floods, / Their houses fell upon their household gods.

2. (transitive, military) To pierce with saps.
3. To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.
   • 1850, Alfred Tennyson, Ring, Out, Wild Bells

     Ring out the grief that saps the mind,/

4. (transitive) To gradually weaken.
   • to sap one’s conscience
5. (intransitive) To proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; to execute saps — 12
   • (Can we date this quote?) The Tatler

     Both assaults carried on by sapping.

Translations

undermine

Dutch: ondermijnen (nl), aantasten (nl), ondergraven (nl) Finnish: heikentää (fi)

French: saper (fr), miner (fr) Italian: scalzare (it), minare (it)

pierce with saps

Manx: towl (gv)

make unstable; weaken

Dutch: ondermijnen (nl), verzwakken (nl), aantasten (nl) Finnish: uuvuttaa (fi), heikentää (fi)

Italian: indebolire (it), fiaccare (it), logorare (it)

gradually weaken

Dutch: ondermijnen (nl), knagen (nl) aan, aantasten (nl)

Russian: истощать (ru), иссушать (ru)

proceed by mining

Dutch: ondermijnen (nl), ondergraven (nl)

Anagrams

• APS
• asp, ASP
• pas, Pas, PAs
• Psa., PSA
• spa, Spa

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ap

Verb

sap

1. Third-person singular present indicative form of saber.

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑp
• IPA: /sɑp/

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sap. Cognate to English sap and German Saft (from Old High German saf).

Noun

sap n. (plural sappen, diminutive sapje)

1. sap (fluid in plants)
2. juice

Derived terms

• sinaasappelsap

Anagrams

• pas

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Romani

Noun

sap m.

1. snake

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Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic sap, from Proto-Turkic.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɑp/

Noun

sap

1. shaft

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Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɑːp/

Etymology

Latin sapiō, "I am wise."

Noun

sap

1. wisdom