▪ I. sap, n.1
(sæp)
Forms: 1 sæp, sep, 4 Kentish zep, 5 saap(pe, 5–7 sappe, 6 sape, sapp, 4– sap.
[Com. WGer.: OE. sæp, genit. sæpes (prob. neut.) = MLG., LG., MDu., Du. sap, neut. (Flemish zap), OHG. saf, genit. saffes, neut. (MHG. saf, saft, neut., mod.G. saft, masc., whence Sw. saft, fem., Da. saft), prob. repr. OTeut. types *sapo{supm}, *sappo{supm}:—pre-Teut. *sapnó-, cogn. w. ON. safi, masc., sap (Sw. safve, saf, masc.):—OTeut. *safon- or *sabon-:—pre-Teut. *sapon-.
On this assumption the Teut. words may be cognate with L. sapĕre to taste, sapor taste, savour; also with sapa must boiled thick, whence (with change of meaning prob. due to association with the WGer. word) Pr., Sp. saba, Fr. sève sap. The hypothesis that the WGer. word was adopted from L. sapa is improbable in view of its relation to the Scandinavian synonym; besides, the assumed development of meaning in popular Latin (of which the Rom. words afford the only evidence) appears unlikely unless as a result of extraneous influence.]
1. a. The vital juice or fluid which circulates in plants.
| a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1177 (Gr.) Ða wearð beam moniᵹ blodiᵹum tearum birunnen..sæp wearð to swate. a 1000 Gloss. in Germania N.S. XI. 391 Sucum, sep. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 139/16 Cedrus, cederbeam. Cedria, his sæp. 1340 Ayenb. 96 Þet zep of þo traue and þe tyeres weren uour wel preciouses þinges. ? c 1377 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 218 Weor that impe ffully growe, That he had sarri, sap, and pith [etc.]. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §127 Alwaye se that the toppe lye hyer than the rote a good quantyte for els the sappe wyll nat renne into the toppe kyndely. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 43 Like three faire branches budding farre and wide, That from one roote deriv'd their vitall sap. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 7 The sap is the life of the tree, as the bloud is to mans body. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 837 Whose presence had infus'd Into the plant sciential sap. 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 398 The sugar maple is a most valuable tree... The sap is extracted in the months of February and March. 1820 Shelley Sensit. Pl. iii. 84 The sap shrank to the root through every pore. 1864 C. Geikie Life in Woods xi. (1874) 183 We kept some sap for vinegar. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 650 All functions are brought into play only when the temperature of the plant..rises to a certain height above the freezing-point of the sap. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 43 The barke þat defendeth the tree from stormes and tempestes, is hope. And the sap that gyueth lyfe to bothe, is charite. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 277 A hand-kercheefe, which..did dreyne The purple sappe from her sweet Brothers body. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. ix. 335 The Moral part of the Law of Moses, which is the Sap and Marrow of the whole. 1791 A. Wilson Eppie & Deil Poet. Wks. (1846) 86 Ye maybe think that spinning's naething! And that it wastes na sap nor breathing? 1832 Lytton Eugene A. i. vi, The sap of youth shrinks from our veins. 1865 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 169 My sap is sealed, My root is dry. 1942 T. S. Eliot Little Gidding i. 7 Between melting and freezing The soul's sap quivers. 1961 B. J. Chute Moon & Thorn iv. 37 An old man..gave her a more than reflective look as she passed, the sap still plainly rising in his branches. |
c. Moisture in stone.
| 1881 Dict. Arch. Publ. Soc., Quarry Damp, or Sap, the natural dampness of the stone when in the quarry. 1892 Middleton Anc. Rome. I. 5 note, What stone-masons call the ‘sap’ should always be allowed to dry out of stone before it is used. |
d. Cytology.
cell sap [
tr. G.
zellsaft] (see
quot. 1875);
nuclear sap, the fluid within the nuclear membrane.
| 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. J. Sachs's Text-bk. Bot. i. i. 62 The term Cell-sap may be understood in a wider or in a narrower sense. In the former it would express the collective mass of all fluids by which the cell-wall, the protoplasm⁓body, and all other organised structures of the cell are saturated, and would also embrace the fluids contained in the vacuoli of the protoplasm; in a narrower sense the latter only is ordinarily designated as cell-sap. 1884 Jrnl. Bot. XXII. 124 The rich, violet-coloured cell-sap in the flower of Justicia speciosa..crystallizes very easily into minute slender prisms. 1887 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 979 Linin and paralinin, the substance respectively of the nuclear threads..and of the intermediate matrix or ‘nuclear sap’. 1955 Internat. Rev. Cytol. IV. 293 Another suggestion for the origin of nucleolar material is that it is formed from nuclear sap. 1971 Villee & Dethier Biol. Princ. & Processes vi. 152 The activation of amino acids for protein synthesis, the process of glycolysis and many other reactions occur in the soluble cell sap. Ibid. xvi. 499 The plant cell, inside its cellulose wall, has one or more large vacuoles filled with cell sap. 1975 Nature 4 Sept. 21/1 Similar preparations were..made from rat liver chromatin but after previous removal of ‘nuclear sap’ which contains soluble nuclear proteins. 1978 B. S. Beckett Illustr. Biol. xxxi. 62/1 As root hairs take up water their cell sap is diluted and soon becomes a weaker solution than the sap of cells deeper inside the root. |
† 2. Ear-wax.
Obs.| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 441/1 Saap [Winchester MS. sap] of the ere, pedora. |
† 3. Juice or fluid of any kind.
Obs. Cf. Sc. and
north. ‘
Sap, anything used for drinking,
esp. milk or beer’;
sap-money, money allowed to servants for liquor. (See E.D.D.)
| 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters b ij, Other lyquor or sape which ye wyl puryfye from all troublous and unclere substaunces. 1535 Coverdale Song Sol. viii. 1 The swete sappe of my pomgranates. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet To Indiff. Rdr., It is said that camels neuer drinke, til they have troubled the water with their feete, and it seemes these Martins cannot carouse the sapp of the Church, til by faction they make tumults in religion. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 449 That the three principall Elements whereof the world is made, namely, Water, Aire, and Fire, should haue no tast, no sauor, nor participation of any sap and liquor at all. |
| fig. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 148 If with the sap of reason you would quench, Or but allay the fire of passion. |
4. a. = sap-wood.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. xi. (1868) 97 Þat thilke thing þat is ryht softe as the marye (i. sapp) is. 1483 Cath. Angl. 318/1 Þe Sappe of a tre, suber. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Grosart) XI. 270 The ioyner though an honest man, yet hee maketh his ioynts weake, and putteth in sap in the mortesels, which should be the hart of the tree. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 14 Deale of thirty foot long, the sap cut off. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 57 The old black-rinded Trees..have less sap, and require but little pains to chip and cut it. The sap is white and the heart red. 1737 Hoppus Salmon's Country Build. Estim. (ed. 2) 22 To lay a Barn Floor with double Deals,..and to List off the Sap. 1864 Intell. Observ. IV. 74 The sandal cutters carefully remove the outer..portion of the wood, which they term the ‘sap’. 1898 Rider Haggard Farmer's Yr. (1899) 121, I noticed that the wood was as hard as iron, and that there was..practically no ‘sap’, that is, soft outer wood, which is useless for most purposes. |
b. U.S. slang. A club; a short staff. So
saps (see
quot. 1899).
| 1899 ‘J. Flynt’ Tramping with Tramps 396 Saps, a clubbing with weapons made from saplings. 1915 N.Y. World Mag. 9 May 14/3 Sap or sapstick, a crutch, cane or club. 1926 J. Black You can't Win vii. 83 The town marshal would then appear with a posse armed with ‘saps’, which is short for saplings, young trees. 1932 J. Dos Passos 1919 436 He could hear the crack of saps on men's skulls. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxvi. 116 He had the sap out this time, a nice little tool about five inches long, covered with woven brown leather. 1955 W. Foster-Harris Look of Old West vii. 218 Its [sc. a quirt's] handle, or butt, would probably be loaded with an iron spike or with buckshot, thus giving you a handy sap when you needed one. 1974 D. Sears Lark in Clear Air iv. 49 His main staff of office was a lead sap that must have weighed two pounds. |
5. The core (of unaltered iron) in the middle of a bar of blister steel.
| 1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron 411. |
† 6. = sap-green.
Obs.| 1572 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 178 Sapp..Crymsen..white. 1573 Ibid. 210 Sape .j. quarterne xx{supd}. |
7. attrib. and
Comb.: as
sap-boiling,
sap-flow,
sap-monger,
sap-pressure,
sap-trough,
sap-vessel;
sap-clear,
sap-consuming,
sap-filled,
sap-rife,
sap-sucking adjs.;
sap-ball, a local name for certain fungi of the genus
Polyporus, ‘the stems of which, after the juice has been squeezed out, are sometimes used by boys as their foundation for tennis-balls’ (
Treas. Bot. 1866);
sap-beetle U.S., any beetle of the family
Nitidulidæ (
Cent. Dict.);
sap-colour (see
quot.);
† sap-pate,
= sap-head,
sapskull;
sap pine U.S. [perversion of F.
sapin], the pitch-pine,
Pinus rigida;
sap-rot, a disease of timber, dry-rot;
sap-stain, discoloration of sap-wood,
esp. a bluish discoloration by fungi; so
sap-stained a.,
sap-staining n. and a.;
sap-sucker, a name in N. America for many of the smaller woodpeckers,
esp. those of the genus
Sphyropicus;
† sap-time, the time of year when the sap circulates;
sap-tree, the mountain ash,
Pyrus aucuparia; also the sycamore,
Acer pseudo-platanus (E.D.D.);
sap-tube, a vessel that conveys sap (Ogilvie, 1850);
sap-whistle dial., ‘a whistle made from the green twig of a tree,
esp. mountain ash or sycamore’ (E.D.D.); in
quot. 1737 referred to proverbially;
† sap-wiser, an instrument for indicating the motion of the sap in plants;
sap-wort (see
quot.). Also
sap-green, -lath, -wood.
| 1953 E. Sitwell Gardeners & Astronomers 31 The gardener plays upon his *sap-clear flute. |
| 1816 S. Parkes Chem. Catech. (ed. 7) 532 *Sap-colours, a name given to various expressed vegetable juices of a viscid nature, which are inspissated by slow evaporation for the use of painters, &c. Sap-green, gamboge, &c. are of this class. |
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 312 Though now this grained face of mine be hid In *sap-consuming Winters drizled snow. |
| 1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow xiii. 383 Her own world of warm sun and growing, *sap-filled life was turned into nothing. |
| 1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance 64 We remember them as the glowing fruit remembers *Sap-flow and sunshine. |
| 1652 Culpeper Eng. Physic. (1656) 383 Let such *Sap-mongers answer me to this Argument, If the Sap fal into the Root in the fal of the Leaf, and lye there al the winter, then must the Root grow only in the winter. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Sap-pate, a Fool. |
| 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 56 A new species of pine, called the French *Sap pine. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Pine, Sap Pine, Pinus rigida. |
| 1976 Sci. Amer. May 104/3 Hales measured the springtime *sap pressure by placing open mercury manometers on a cut vine. |
| 1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 326 Wet and *saprife spring in their ordered immortal sequence. |
| 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 191/1 The sap-wood is the part in which the decomposing operations commence, and hence the propriety of the term *sap-rot. 1918 J. W. Harshberger Mycol. & Plant Path. xxxv. 545 Sap-rot (Polystictus versicolor (L.), Fr.).—Polystictus versicolor is one of the most cosmopolitan species of fungi known... It grows on the sapwood of every species of deciduous tree known. It is the most serious of all the wood-rotting fungi, destroying probably 75 per cent. of the timber used for railroad ties. Ibid. 558 Sap-rot (Daedalea quercina (L.) Pers).—One of the most important enemies of structural oak, produces a soft, mushy decay of the wood. 1971 Country Life 4 Nov. 1224/2 The chestnut for the frames is cleft..soon after cutting to prevent sap rot. |
| 1910 Bot. Gaz. L. 147 *Sap stain is in general produced in two ways, by the attacks of fungi and by chemical discoloration. 1953 F. T. Brooks Plant Dis. (ed. 2) xii. 199 Several species of Ceratostomella and allied genera, together with many Fungi Imperfecti, cause sap-stain or blueing of the sap-wood of soft and hard timber felled for lumber, and of pulp-wood... Affected wood is reduced in marketability as the stain is unsightly in timber used for certain purposes. 1976 B. M. Bakshi Forest Path. iii. 281 The fungi causing soft rot, like those causing sap stain, belong to the Ascomycetes and Fungi Imperfecti. |
| 1910 Bot. Gaz. L. 142 The examination of microscopic sections of this *sap-stained lumber reveals the fact that the colored substance, produced by the chemical reaction, is most conspicuously developed in the wood rays and wood parenchyma cells. |
| Ibid., Favorable conditions for *sap-staining are found during warm weather. 1921 Phytopathology XI. 214 As a sap-staining organism Lasiosphaeria pezizula has been previously reported by Humphrey. 1976 B. M. Bakshi Forest Path. iii. 280 Sap staining fungi..do not cause any wood decay. |
| 1805 Lewis & Clark Jrnl. 8 Apr. in Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1905) VI. 187 [I saw] the small woodpecker or *sapsucker as they are sometimes called. 1808 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. (1831) I. 167 This, and the two former species [i.e. Picus varius, P. villosus, and P. pubescens] are generally denominated sap-suckers. 1834 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 81 The Downy Woodpecker..is best known in all parts of the United States by the name of Sap-sucker. 1872 194 Genus Sphyrapicus Baird... Of the several small species commonly called ‘sapsuckers’ they alone deserve the name. 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 25 Jan. 6/1 The cardinals have been flashing to and fro, and the flickers and sapsuckers and the tiny snowbirds. 1962 T. A. Imhof Alabama Birds 329 These far-ranging woodland birds are called Peckerwoods and Sapsuckers in the South. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 13 June 13/2 A sapsucker tapped out an accompaniment on his favorite tree. |
| 1884 Coues Key N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 485 Sphyropicus...*Sap-sucking Woodpeckers. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §133 Beware, that thou croppe hym not, nor heed hym (specially) in *sappe-tyme. |
| 1701 Grew Cosm. Sacra i. v. §22. 20 The Liquor of the adjacent *Sap-Vessels. |
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 123 If he would not be a *Sap-whistle, he might be a Sling at any time. 1979 Bull. Yorks. Dial. Soc. Summer 7 Here's a sap whistle, lads er aw alike, Here's en aad knife, en a nut off a bike [in a boy's pocket]. |
| 1670 Tonge in Phil. Trans. V. 2071 *Sap-wiser. |
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 948 In damp situations, Œnanthe crocata, water *sap-wort, grows. |
b. N. Amer. With
spec. reference to the sap of the sugar maple, as
sap beer,
sap-boiling,
sap bucket,
sap-cider,
sap-gatherer,
sap-house,
sap-kettle,
sap pail,
sap pan,
sap season,
sap sled,
sap syrup,
sap trough,
sap tub,
sap weather,
sap works,
sap yield;
sap-boiler, a furnace with pans for evaporating the sap of the maple (Knight
Dict. Mech.);
sap-bush, a grove of sugar-maples;
sap neckyoke = sap yoke;
sap orchard = sap bush;
sap porridge (see
quots.);
sap run, an increased flow of sap in a sugar-maple tree;
sap spout, a spout through which sap is drawn from a sugar-maple tree;
sap sugar = maple sugar s.v. maple 3;
sap tree, the sugar maple,
Acer saccharum;
sap weather, the kind of weather that encourages the flow of sap in a sugar-maple tree;
sap yoke, a yoke used for carrying sap pails.
| 1950 H. & S. Nearing Maple Sugar Bk. ix. 202 The other maple product is *sap beer. |
| 1876 W. Boyd in Bartlett Dict. Amer., The great event of the spring is the *sap-boiling in the maple-woods. |
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. iii. 12 [Here were] frows, *sap-buckets, a leach-tub. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 94 A maple sap bucket of coopered pine,..is shown... The wire loop, for suspending it on a nail below the sap incision in the tree, can be seen in the photograph. 1980 Blair & Ketchum's Country Jrnl. (Brattleboro, Vermont) Oct. 102/1 I've used mine [sc. a wooden packboard] to carry 200 sap buckets up the washed-out road to the sugar⁓house and to carry finished gallons of syrup back down. |
| a 1882 T. Weed Autobiogr. (1883) I. ii. 12, I now look with great pleasure upon the days and nights passed in the *sap-bush. |
| 1845 J. F. Cooper Chainbearer II. v. 60, I don't think anything of bringing you..a little water,..nor should I had we any beer or *sap-cider. |
| 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 719 The ‘*sap-gatherer’ or ‘draw⁓tub’, as it is called, is a hogshead containing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty gallons. |
| 1917 D. Canfield Understood Betsy vii. 110 The *sap-house, where Cousin Ann and Uncle Henry were making syrup. 1939 I. B. Wolcott Yankee Cook Bk. 338 Any one who..returns to the sap house. |
| 1904 M. E. Waller Wood-Carver of 'Lympus ii. 51 [I] drew trees and sheep and loggers' camps on the flat stones beneath the crotch set for the *sap-kettles. 1968 E. R. Buckler Ox Bells & Fireflies iv. 77 You thought..about the sap kettle in the cool green shadow, waiting to be emptied at noon. |
| 1905 W. M. Webb in A. E. Cowles Past & Present City of Lansing & Ingham County, Michigan 441 One neighbor whittled out brooms... Another gauged the *sap neckyokes and another made ox yokes. |
| 1861 Boston Herald 12 Apr. 2/6 Owners of *sap orchards can afford to work day and night. |
| 1947 K. M. Wells Owl Pen Reader (1969) i. 44 Jim..followed him, hanging *sap pails to the already dripping spouts. |
| 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 729 Russia iron is the best material for home made *sap pans as the niter can be removed from it more easily. |
| 1842 Amer. Pioneer I. 346 ‘*Sap porridge’,..when made of sweet corn meal, and the fresh sacarine juice of the maple, afforded both a nourishing and a savory dish. 1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 290 Corn-meal mush was a regular supper dish. In the spring it was made with maple sap and was known as sap porridge. |
| 1876 J. Burroughs Winter Sunshine 119 A ‘*sap-run’ seldom lasts more than two or three days. 1950 H. & S. Nearing Maple Sugar Bk. ix. 202 Maple vinegar..is made of sap run at the end of the season. |
| Ibid. iii. 48 Much of the boiling was done far from home, and the sugar makers camped out in the deep woods until the *sap season was over. |
| Ibid. v. 98 The loaded *sap sled..moves down rather easily. |
| 1878 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. V. 105 We now have the Eureka *sap spout, the tin bucket, [etc.]. 1949 Highway Traveler Feb. 16/2 A sap spout, or ‘spile’ as your boss may call it, is driven into the opening with a few taps of a hammer. |
| 1800 C. D. Rouso D'Eres Mem. 63 The squaws in particular, would make me many and valuable [presents]..consisting of *sap sugar. 1895 S. O. Jewett Life of Nancy 105 [She] handed us sap sugar on one of her best plates. |
| 1951 T. Capote Grass Harp i. 11, I could hear the tantalizing tremor of their voices flowing like *sapsyrup through the old wood. |
| 1843 Knickerbocker XXII. 161 One felled the proper trees, taking care to leave the *sap⁓trees, the sugar-maple, untouched. |
| 1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems (1806) 41 Your love I well repaid By..a *sap⁓trough neatly made. 1840 Gosse Canadian Nat. 11 The timber..is..made into sap-troughs for the sugary. 1897 R. E. Robinson Uncle Lisha's Outing x. 84 These 'ere boots... They're stiffer'n sap troughs. |
| 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 215 When I was a boy I purchased one hundred *sap tubs, and commenced sugaring on my own hook. |
| 1950 H. & S. Nearing Maple Sugar Bk. vi. 137 The 20-degree-night and the 45-degree-day, sunny-days and cold-night formula for *sap weather is very far from telling the whole story. |
| 1832 J. J. Strang Diary 19 Feb. in M. M. Quaife Kingdom of St. James (1930) 202, I expect to dismiss my school soon and leave the place..for the people want their boys to work in the *sap works. 1849 Knickerbocker XXXIII. 279 ‘The Sugar Bush’ has vividly recalled to memory..the pale blue smoke curling up from the ‘sap-works’. |
| 1950 H. & S. Nearing Maple Sugar Bk. iv. 82 There is some evidence that length of trunk plays a part in *sap yield. |
| 1878 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. V. 105 The sap was lugged with *sap yoke and pails on their shoulders. |
▪ II. † sap, n.2 Obs. [a. F. sappe (now sape): see sap n.3] Some kind of spade or mattock.
| 1566 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) I. 254, I giu to Richard walton my..stele sappe. 1598 Florio, Zappa, a mattocke to dig and delue with, a sappe. |
▪ III. sap, n.3 Mil. (
sæp)
Forms: 6–7
zappe, 6–8
sappe, 7–8
sapp, 8–
sap.
[Late 16th c. zappe, sappe, ad. It. zappa and a. F. sappe (16th c. also zappe after It.; now sape) spade, spadework, sap. Cf. Sp. zapa, late L. sappa (6th c.). The ulterior origin is uncertain: see Diez and Körting.] 1. † The process of undermining a wall or defensive work (
obs.); the process of constructing covered trenches in order to approach a besieged place without danger from the enemy's fire.
| 1591 Sir H. Unton Corr. (Roxb.) 247 The King now resolveth to gaigne the fort by the zappe. Ibid. 248 Now we labor by sappe to win the fort. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iii. xii. 334 Untill such time as they might gaine it by Sapp or Myne. 1683 Sir J. Turner Pallas Armata 316 This Sappe or Zappe is nothing else but a digging. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Sappe, in Fortification, formerly signified the undermining, or deep digging, with Pick-axe and Shovel at the Foot of a Work to overthrow it without Gunpowder. 1710 Ibid. II, Sap, in Fortification, is digging deep under the Earth,..to open a way to come under cover to the Passage of the Moat. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 22 Like pow'rful armies trenching at a town, By slow, and silent, but resistless sap. 1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 328/1 The French advanced, by sap, quite up to the foot of our entrenchment. 1812 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VIII. 549 We had made some progress by sap towards the crest of the glacis. 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 368 The sap is a mode of carrying on the approaches at a siege, under cover. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sap, that peculiar method by which a besieger's zig-zag approaches are continuously advanced in spite of the musketry of the defenders. 1875 Clery Min. Tactics xvii. 253 A solid redout..made it necessary to advance from house to house by sap. |
b. fig. Applied to stealthy or insidious methods of attacking or destroying something.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. iii. 35 Be my end what it may, I am obliged, by thy penetration, fair one, to proceed by the sap. 1791 Cowper Odyss. vii. 317 Exempt forever from the sap of age. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 52 A hock of pickled pork and a pound of sixpenny sugar, conveyed by way of sap to undermine the virtue of one of our Newgate nuns. 1862 Ellicott in Aids to Faith ix. 396 It is simply an endeavour by slow sap to weaken the authority of some of the writers of the New Testament. |
† c. ?
transf.| 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 327 Water may rise..either by running channels or by sap or percolation. |
2. A covered trench made for the purpose of approaching a besieged place under the fire of the garrison.
flying sap: see
flying ppl. a. 4 d.
| 1642 Hexham Princ. Art Milit. ii. (ed. 2) 38 In the Interim a Sapp is begun, that runneth towards the Bulwark. 1672 J. Lacey tr. Tacquet's Milit. Archit. 48 You cut a strait Channel LH, commonly called a Sappe, thorough the out-brestwork, to the very ditch of the Fortification. 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. viii. §151 His soldiers..began their approaches by saps. 1687 J. Richards Jrnl. Siege of Buda 34 The Duke of Lorrain order'd a large Sap to be made into the Ditch. 1702 Milit. Dict. s.v. Attack, The Works the Besiegers carry on, either Trenches, Galeries, Sappes, or Breaches to reduce a place. 1782 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) IX. 6952/1 There are several sorts of saps; the single, which has only a single parapet; the double, having one on each side; and the flying, made with gabions, &c. 1812 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) IX. 35, 200 men likewise of the covering party will rush from the right of the sap into the salient angle of the covered-way of the ravelin. 1893 W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 104 To protect this part of their route a flying sap was constructed. |
3. Comb.:
sap battery, a battery at the head of a sap;
sap-faggot, a fascine used in sapping, to fill up the spaces between gabions;
sap-fork (see
quot. 1842);
sap-head, the foremost end of a sap;
sap-roller, a large gabion covering the sap-head;
sap-shield (see
quot. 1876).
| 1810 Naval Chron. XXIV. 368 The Namur and Valiant took it day and day about to fight a *sap battery. |
| 1834 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 222 The *sap-faggot has a strong stake in the middle. |
| 1842 Brande Dict. Sci., etc., *Sap fork, an instrument like a boat hook, used to push on a sap roller in sapping. 1884 Mil. Engineering (ed. 3) I. ii. 75 According as the gabion has to be pulled towards the trench or pushed away from it, which must be done entirely with the sap-fork. |
| 1878 Text Bk. Fortif. §332 The rate of progress of the *sapheads, therefore, regulates the rate of progress of the siege. |
| 1834 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 222 The head of the sap is covered by a *sap-roller, viz. a large stuffed gabion. |
| 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict., *Sap-shield, a steel plate mounted on wheels for the purpose of giving cover to the sapper in a single sap. |
▪ IV. sap, n.4 School slang.
(
sæp)
[prob. f. sap v.3, though appearing earlier in our quots.] 1. One who studies hard or is absorbed in books.
| 1798 C. Smith Yng. Philos. I. 48 He obtained the character of a sullen, cold-blooded fellow, and a sap. 1827 Lytton Pelham ii, When I once attempted to read Pope's poems out of school hours, I was laughed at, and called ‘a sap’. a 1833 W. Wilberforce in Life (1838) I. 11 The tutors [at Cambridge, c 1776] would often say..that ‘they were mere saps, but that I did all by talent’. 1862 Rep. Publ. Schools Comm. (1864) III. 284 (Eton), You do not consider a boy who is considered what is called a sap, is looked down upon by the rest?—No. |
2. Study, book-work.
Eton College slang.
| a 1862 Q. Hogg Let. in E. M. Hogg Quintin Hogg (1904) ii. 32 The night before last I..worked the whole night... I hope I shall take well after all my sap. 1901 Quiet Evening in Eton Echoes 13 Soon a drowsiness steals o'er you, and all thought of ‘sap’ is banished. |
▪ V. sap, n.5 (
sæp)
[Short for sapskull.] A simpleton, a fool.
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xlviii, They're sporting the door of the Custom-house, and the auld sap at Hazlewood-House has ordered off the guard. 1818 ― Rob Roy xiv, He maun be a saft sap, wi' a head nae better than a fozy frosted turnip. 1836 Mrs. Sherwood H. Milner iii. xi, Do you think that we are such saps that we cannot say No? 1852 Meanderings of Mem. l. 164 He crowned his head but with another cap Than Cardinal's—for that he wants no Sap. 1930 Sat. Even. Post 26 July 145/1 In some ways Angelo's a sap, but I never thought he'd get himself in a spot like that. 1940 Wodehouse Quick Service xix. 240 You were a sap to come away. 1945 ‘N. Shute’ Most Secret vii. 154 But when you come to think of it, I'd have been a sap. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 181 The word ‘sap’..the children define as meaning a sissy or a softy (‘soft in that he does not do anything wrong’), and suggest other moist alternatives, as ‘milksop’, ‘soppy date’, a ‘wet’, or a ‘drip’. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 35/1 Bobby Mull.., is a sap if he accepts less than $100,000 from the tight-fisted..management. 1973 ‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder vi. 72 My brother was a prize sap... Guess he knows better now. |
▪ VI. sap, v.1 (
sæp)
[a. F. saper (earlier sapper) = It. zappare, f. zappa: see sap n.3 Cf. Sp. zapar.] 1. a. intr. To dig a sap or covered trench; to approach a besieged place by means of a sap. Also
to sap up,
sap on.
| 1598 Florio, Zappare, to digge, or delue, or grubbe the ground, to sap. 1642 Hexham Princ. Art Milit. ii. (ed. 2) 38 Then one begins to Sapp from H to I. Ibid. 45 After you have sapt through the Counterscharfe. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. iv. vii. (1854) 259 They sapt up towards the castle. 1882 Sir R. Temple Men & Events India xx. 483 Where the Muhammadan besiegers erected batteries, sapped, undermined, stormed. |
b. fig. To make way in a stealthy or insidious manner. Also
trans. in
to sap one's way.
| 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 34 In vain may Heroes fight, and Patriots rave; If secret Gold sap on from knave to knave. 1839 Landor Andrea & Giov. Wks. 1846 II. 540 Lies, while they sap their way and hold their tongues, Are safe enough. |
2. a. trans. To dig under the foundations of (a wall, etc.). Also
transf. of natural agencies, etc.: To undermine; to render insecure by removing the foundations.
| 1652 C. B. Stapylton Herodian x. 79 But see the chance, from off the Mountaines rapt A sudden flood, which strong Foundation sapt. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2482/1 We have begun to sappe the Glacis. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. iii. 57 Sinking Isles, Sap'd by the Flame,..Fall down with mighty Cracks. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), To sap, a Term in War, to dig under the Foundations of a Wall to throw it down and destroy it. To dig under the Glacis, in order to pass the Moat securely. 1700 Dryden Ovid's Met. i. 397 Sap'd by floods, Their houses fell. 1718 Pope Iliad xii. 25 The Weight of Waters saps the yielding Wall. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 18/1 Drains..shou'd..not do any harm to the House, either by sapping of dirtying it. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. xxiv, Huge fragments, sapp'd by the ceaseless flow. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. i. xiii. II. 108 Galleries were also wrought,..to sap the foundations of the walls. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxi, A crazy building, sapped and undermined by the rats. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. xviii. (1875) 263 The flood still rose,..and threatened to sap the magazine. |
b. fig. with reference to a metaphorical wall, foundation, etc.
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 163 ¶5 A Heart in Love has its Foundations sapped. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 111 ¶2 To sap the difficulties which it expected to subdue by storm. 1761 Churchill Night Poems 1767 I. 80 How damps and vapours..sap the walls of health. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot. i. 13 He takes his stand..upon advanced ground which is already sapped. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. viii. 544 There was..not one who did not..sap the foundation of some old opinion. |
c. To approach (a fortress) or to pierce (ground) with saps.
d. To erode by glacial sapping (
sapping vbl. n.1 2 b).
| 1910 Geogr. Jrnl. XXXV. 269 Lack of glacial scratches or polish in uplands sapped by this process should not be allowed to weigh too heavily in reconstructing the glacial history of the district. 1940 Geogr. Rev. XXX. 81 Whether these glaciers, when at their maximum thickness, were able to sap vigorously the very bottom of the head walls..is a little doubtful. |
3. fig. a. To weaken or destroy insidiously (
esp. health, strength, courage, or the like).
Probably often coloured by association with
sap n.1, as if the primary notion were ‘to drain the vital sap from’.
| 1755 Connoisseur No. 82 (1774) III. 83 A Drunkard; one that takes an unaccountable pleasure in sapping his constitution. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 393 Till sapped their strength, and every part unsound, Down, down they sink. 1836 J. H. Newman in Lyra Apost. (1849) 96 But sloth had sapped the prophet's strength. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cvi, Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more. 1858 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VI. liv. 412 The spirit of inquiry..was sapping the positive beliefs of the day. 1877 Dowden Shaks. Primer vi. 117 His moral energy is sapped by a kind of scepticism. |
¶ b. ? To drain
of something.
| 1893 K. D. Wiggin Cathedr. Courtship 68 He sapped me of all my ideas, and gave me none in exchange. |
▪ VII. sap, v.2 Obs. (
sæp)
[f. sap n.1] 1. trans. To remove the sap from (wood).
| 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Poplar, The Wood is useful for the Engraver, and being saw'd into Boards and sapt dry, continues a long while. |
2. To remove the sap-wood from (a log).
| 1875 [implied in sapping vbl. n.3]. |
▪ VIII. sap, v.3 School slang.
(
sæp)
[Prob. a fig. use of sap v.1 1. Cf. sap n.4, which is recorded earlier.] intr. To pore over books; to be studious.
| 1830 H. Angelo Remin. II. 371 Preferring a continental visit to sap-ing..three years at college for a fellowship. 1853 Lytton My Novel I. i. xii. 80 They say he is the cleverest boy in the school. But then he saps. a 1884 M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 21 It was unworthy of a man of his position to ‘sap’. |
▪ IX. sap, v.4 U.S. slang. (
sæp)
[f. sap n.1] trans. To hit or club (someone) with a sap (see
sap n.1 4 b). Also with
up and
intr. in
to sap up on (someone).
| 1926 J. Black You can't Win vii. 83 The posse fell upon the convention and ‘sapped up’ on those therein assembled and ran them..out of town. 1926 Clues Nov. 162/1 Sapped, beaten up. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 213 To get sapped means to be clubbed by the bulls. 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 101/1 Sapped, struck with a club or billy by a police officer. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xxxviii. 178 He slumped sideways and clawed at a corner of the desk, then rolled on his back. It was nice to see someone else get sapped for a change. 1971 Black World Apr. 65 My eye was swole... I remember how you sapped me up somethin awful. |