sappy, a. (n.)
(ˈsæpɪ)
[f. sap n.1 + -y. Cf. MLG. sapich, MHG. saffec, saffic.]
1. Of a plant or tree or its parts, of wood: Abounding in sap.
| 1100 Aldhelm Gloss. i. 546 in Napier O.E. Glosses 16/1 Suculentus, sæpiᵹ stela. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 441/1 Sapy, or fulle of sap, cariosus. a 1555 Samuel Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1705/1 Began they not first with the greene and sappie tree? 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Love Ep. Ded. *ij, The Vine..stretcheth abroad his sappy braunches. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 165. 1600 Surflet Country Farm ii. liv. 383 The citron tree is a great deale more sappie and full of iuice for to make nourishment of then the limon tree. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 58 Branches, of which the Wood is..extreamly Pithy, or Sappy. 1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 75 When the sappy Boughs Attire themselves with Blooms. 1842 Tennyson Amphion xii, But these [sc. exotic plants], tho' fed with careful dirt Are neither green nor sappy. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 425 Sappy masses of parenchyma. |
| Comb. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 393 The fat sappy-leaved clover has been agreeable. |
2. fig. in various applications. a. Full of vitality.
| 1558 T. Phaer æneid vi. Q j b, Well agyd now, but sappy strength he kepes of grener yeres. 1879 J. Burroughs Locusts & Wild Honey (1884) 114 A rank, sappy race like the English or German. |
b. Full or ‘goodness’ or substance.
| 1563 L. Blundeston Pref. to B. Googe Eglogs (Arb.) 30 The sappye Sence of this his passyng Ryme. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. To Rdr. *vj, He that is least acquainted with suche trashe, and pelfe wyll better perceaue suche thinges whych be sauerye and sappye. 1587 Greene Card of Fancy Wks. (Grosart) IV. 90 The sugered eloquence, which so sweetlie flowed from the sappie wit of Gwydonius. 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. iv. 43 What thinke you of the lines of Decius? Writes he not a good cordiall sappie stile? 1948 F. R. Leavis Great Tradition ii. 111 The Portrait of a Lady belongs to the sappiest phase of James's art, when the hypertrophy of technique hadn't yet set in. |
† c. Immature, unseasoned. Obs.
| a 1627 Hayward Edw. VI (1630) 3 When he had passed this weake and sappie age he was committed to Dr. Coxe. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 365 A Creature of that Sappy Sapience (for it selfe) as too green to burn for Religion. |
† 3. Juicy; succulent. a. Of fruit. Also as epithet of the juice.
| 1562 W. Bullein Bulwark, Compounds 33 Make your balles with the sappie iuce of the beries. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 56 The riper fruit..Whose sappy liquor, that with fulnesse sweld, Into her cup she scruzd. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. ix. 519 Tomates which is a great sappy and savourie graine. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. (1656) 33 After which succeed round, reddish, sappy Berries. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants vii. §11 In its first and juvenile Constitution, it is a very Spongy and Sappy body. |
b. Of meat, fish, etc.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. Cosmogr. vi. 29 In this region ar mony fair ky and oxin,..the talloun of thair wambis is sa sappy, that it fresis nevir. a 1758 Ramsay To Hamilton (Herrings) i, Braw sappy fish As ane could wish. 1825 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 25 Their flesh will be the sappier. |
4. Fat; plump. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1694 Lond. Gaz. No. 2998/4 She [a mare] is spay'd, and has a heavy Eye, somewhat sappy. a 1813 A. Wilson Epit. Auld Janet Poet. Wks. (1840) 288 A sonsier dame, or sappier wame, Ne'er hotcht alangst the cawsey. 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 637 Your frame so sappy, and your face so smug. |
5. a. Full of moisture; moist; wet; sodden; rainy. Obs. exc. dial. Cf. soppy a.
| c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. viii. (Preach. Swallow) xiv, To se the soill..Sappie, and to resaue all seidis able. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3) iii. ix, At cricket..on very sloppy ground, so that your hard ball presently becomes, muddy, sappy, and rotten. 1885 Hall Caine Shadow Crime xxiv, It's cold and sappy, Mrs. Garth. |
b. Of meat: Putrescent, tainted. dial. (See E.D.D.)
| 1573 Baret Alv. s.v. Restie, Sapie or vnsauerie flesh. 1783 Lemon Etymol. Dict., Sapy, a moisture contracted on the outward surface of meats, which is the first stage of dissolution. |
6. Consisting of or containing sap-wood.
| 1466 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 93 This tymbir shalbe white oke, not doted, nor storvyn, nor sappy. 1711 Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4) s.v. Trenel, These T[r]enels must be well season'd, and not sappy. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 84 Be exceeding careful how you make use of any sort of sappy Timber. |
7. Foolish. (Cf. sap n.5) Also as n. Hence ˈsappyhead, a foolish person. Cf. sap-head.
| 1670 2nd Pt. Peoples Liberties Asserted 6 When unlimited Prerogatives have sprung up, like Mushromes out of the sappy Apprehensions..of inferior Officers. 1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) I. 242 ‘Where’, said she fretfully, ‘can he have taken his sappy head?’ 1894 G. W. Appleton Co-Respondent I. 150, I am a fat-headed, sappy, bally ass. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 114 Martin could wind a sappyhead like that round his little finger without his seeing it. 1930 D. H. Lawrence Nettles 23 You know that they've got to think that they're happy... Oh so happy, you sappy. |
| punningly. 1848 Lowell Fable for Critics Poet. Wks. 1890 III. 61 The women he draws from one model don't vary, All sappy as maples and flat as a prairie. |
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▸ N. Amer. Excessively sentimental; soppy, mawkish.
Esp. in early use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 7.
| 1928I. Gershwin Oh Gee! Oh Joy! in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics I. Gershwin (1993) 115/3 The birds are singing. Because why? Because I am in love!.. Folks complain I'm insane, Because I act so sappy. 1947 E. S. Holding Blank Wall ii. 20, I don't like anything that's sappy and emotional and all, and I don't want to get mixed up in things like that. Not now, or any other time. 1986 B. Dijkstra Idols of Perversity vii. 211 The road to progress was masculine aggression, the road to destruction sappy effeminacy. 2000 Windsor (Ontario) Star (Nexis) 10 July b7 Sure it sounds like a Hallmark greeting card sometimes... But that's how I feel. Life is really sweet. It's really gentle. Call it corny, call it shmaltzy, call it sappy..but it feels great. I like it. |