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sap¹

(săp)

a. The watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to the various tissues.

b. See cell sap.

2. Health and energy; vitality: The constant bickering drained his sap away.

3. Slang A foolish or gullible person.

tr.v. sapped, sap·ping, saps

1. To drain (a tree, for example) of sap.

2. To deplete or weaken gradually: The noisy children sapped all my energy. The flu sapped him of his strength. See Synonyms at deplete.

[Middle English, from Old English sæp. V., sense 2, probably partly from SAP² (taken as "to weaken (resistance) as by draining of sap.").]

sap²

(săp)

A covered trench or tunnel dug to a point near or within an enemy position.

v. sapped, sap·ping, saps

v.tr.

To undermine the foundations of (a fortification).

v.intr.

To dig a sap.

[French sape, from saper, to sap, undermine, from Italian zappare, to dig with a mattock or hoe, sap, from zappa, mattock, hoe, from Old Italian, from Late Latin sappa, of unknown origin.]

sap³

(săp)

A leather-covered bludgeon with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon.

tr.v. sapped, sap·ping, saps

To hit or knock out with a sap.

[Probably short for SAPLING, since the bludgeons were made from wood from saplings.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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