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SAP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: sapped , sapping
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A piece of metal covered by leather with a flexible handle; used for hitting people
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("sap" is a kind of...):
bludgeon (a club used as a weapon)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person who lacks good judgment
Synonyms:
fool; muggins; sap; saphead; tomfool
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("sap" is a kind of...):
simple; simpleton (a person lacking intelligence or common sense)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sap"):
ass (a pompous fool)
buffoon; clown (a rude or vulgar fool)
flibbertigibbet; foolish woman (a female fool)
fucker (a stupid despised man)
bozo; cuckoo; fathead; goof; goofball; goose; jackass; twat; zany (a man who is a stupid incompetent fool)
meshuggeneh; meshuggener ((Yiddish) a crazy fool)
morosoph (a learned fool)
putz ((Yiddish) a fool; an idiot)
wally (a silly and inept person; someone who is regarded as stupid)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("sap" is a kind of...):
solution (a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances; frequently (but not necessarily) a liquid solution)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sap"):
manna (hardened sugary exudation of various trees)
Derivation:
sappy (abounding in sap)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they sap ... he / she / it saps
Past simple: sapped
Past participle: sapped
-ing form: sapping
Sense 1
Meaning:
Excavate the earth beneath
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "sap" is one way to...):
cave; undermine (hollow out as if making a cave or opening)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
sapper (a military engineer who does sapping (digging trenches or undermining fortifications))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Deplete
Example:
We quickly played out our strength
Synonyms:
exhaust; play out; run down; sap; tire
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Hypernyms (to "sap" is one way to...):
consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out (use up (resources or materials))
Verb group:
play out (become spent or exhausted)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
sapper (a military engineer who does sapping (digging trenches or undermining fortifications))
Context examples:
It freezes the water to prevent it running to the sea; it drives the sap out of the trees till they are frozen to their mighty hearts; and most ferociously and terribly of all does the Wild harry and crush into submission man—man who is the most restless of life, ever in revolt against the dictum that all movement must in the end come to the cessation of movement.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
