sapless
English
Etymology
Adjective
sapless (comparative more sapless, superlative most sapless)
- (of a plant) Lacking in sap.
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind,” III, in Prometheus Unbound, with Other Poems, London: C. & J. Ollier, pp. 191-192,[1]
- […] Thou
- For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
- Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
- The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
- The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
- Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
- And tremble to despoil themselves: O, hear!
- 1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elsie Venner, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, Volume I, Chapter 13, p. 234,[2]
- Below, all their earthward-looking branches are sapless and shattered, splintered by the weight of many winters’ snows; above, they are still green and full of life, but their summits overtop all the deciduous trees around them, and in their companionship with heaven they are alone.
- 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind,” III, in Prometheus Unbound, with Other Poems, London: C. & J. Ollier, pp. 191-192,[1]
- (figuratively, of a person etc.) Lacking vivacity.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 5,[3]
- O young John Talbot! I did send for thee
- To tutor thee in stratagems of war,
- That Talbot’s name might be in thee revived
- When sapless age and weak unable limbs
- Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.
- 1633, George Herbert, “Nature” in The Temple, 5th edition, Cambridge University, 1638,[4]
- O smooth my rugged heart, and there
- Engrave thy rev’rend Law and fear:
- Or make a new one, since the old
- Is saplesse grown,
- And a much fitter stone
- To hide my dust, then thee to hold.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 5,[3]