sapling
(ˈsæplɪŋ)
Forms: 5 sapp(e)lynge, 6 sapplyne, 7 saplyn, 7–9 saplin, 8 sappling, 6– sapling.
[f. sap n.1 + -ling1. Cf. sipling.]
1. A young tree; esp. a young forest-tree with a trunk a few inches in diameter.
| 1415 in York Minister Fabric Rolls (Surtees) 35 In ij sappelynges emptis de Gilberto Walker pro gauntrees, 3s. 8d. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xi. 43 And scars this sentens prent into hys mynd, Hys douchtir for to clos wythin the rynd And stalwart sapplyne or bark of cork tre. 1543 Mem. Fountains Abb. (Surtees) I. 412 Yonge saplings. Ibid. 413 Smale saplings. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. iv. 71 Behold, mine Arme Is like a blasted Sapling, wither'd vp. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. v. 212 To preserue the timber trees, and saplins likely to become timber trees, Oke, Elme, and Ashe. 1681 Dineley Jrnl. Tour Irel. in Trans. Kilkenny Archæol. Soc. Ser. ii. IV. 332 The Roof of this Church is admirable, of whole Saplyns. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 310 If the hunter chance to miss his aim, he speedily makes off to a sappling, which the bear..cannot climb. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xiv, The broom's tough roots his ladder made, The hazel saplings lent their aid. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 149 Saplins not proper to be cut as timber. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxxi, The gale, it plies the saplings double. |
b. used as a switch.
| a 1712 W. King Old Cheese 69 Slouch..saw his wife's vigorous hand Wielding her oaken sapling of command. |
2. transf. A young or inexperienced person.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iii. ii. 50 Peace tender Sapling, thou art made of teares, And teares will quickly melt thy life away. 1738 G. Lillo Marina i. ii, Bawd. You're a sapling to talk so to one of my experience. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 255 The saplings from Carter's Barracks, Sidney, are three times greater nuisances than the ‘full growths’ in the Penitentiary there. 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest xi, Right, my sapling; right and well said. 1905 Academy 7 Oct. 1031/2 What god or mortal reared up so fair a sapling? |
3. A young greyhound (see
quots.).
| 1832 [cf. sapling stake below]. 1853 ‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound xiv. 274 The young greyhound is called a sapling till he is a year old, after which he becomes a puppy till two years old. 1892 Coursing & Falconry (Badm. Libr.) 56 A sapling is a greyhound whelped on or after January 1 of the same year in which the season of running began. |
4. a. appositively or as
adj. That is a sapling.
| 1700 Dryden Theod. & Hon. 129 A Saplin Pine he wrench'd from out the Ground. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe i. 121 Mourns she for lordly chamber's hearth That to the sapling ash gives birth. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 280 The branch of a sapling tree. |
b. simple
attrib., as
sapling pole,
sapling stick, (sense 3)
sapling stake. Also
sapling-cup,
-tankard, an open cup or tankard formed of wood, with staves hooped like a diminutive barrel.
| 1851 Archæol. Jrnl. VIII. 427 A *Sapling cup—an oaken tankard for drinking new ale. |
| 1762 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 437 They [the corn-bins] are made of *sapling poles, three or four inches diameter. |
| 1832 in Altcar Coursing Cal. (1839) 47 *Sapling Stakes. 1885 Field 21 Feb. 228/3 Having conspired to run in a sapling stake..a greyhound which was not a sapling. |
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xiv, He bore no weapon in his hand, excepting a small *sapling stick, with a hooked head. 1900 H. Lawson Over Sliprails 59 The wheel was boxed in, mostly with round sapling-sticks. |
Hence
ˈsaplinghood, the condition or state of being a sapling.
| 1868 Nettleship Browning vi. 218 Just as one having a rare tree..would not, in its saplinghood, set it..in a forest of full-grown giant trees. 1903 Edna K. Wallace in Critic XLIII. 315 Then..I grew From sapling-hood to a Tree. |