a watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant
"The gardener carefully collected sap from the maple tree to make syrup."
The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.
"The company's new policy outlines how employees can claim SAP benefits when they take time off to care for their newly adopted children."
A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.
A narrow ditch or trench made from the foremost parallel toward the glacis or covert way of a besieged place by digging under cover of gabions, etc.
Initialism of statutory adoption pay. Payments made by an employer to an employee who is absent from work after the adoption of a child.
In plain English: Sap is the watery liquid that flows inside trees and plants to help them grow.
"The old tree began to leak sap after being cut down."
Usage: In modern English usage, sap refers primarily to the liquid that circulates within plants rather than its historical military meaning for a defensive trench. This common definition distinguishes it from similar terms like juice by emphasizing its vital role in plant nutrition and growth.
excavate the earth beneath
"The workers carefully sapped the ground beneath the old tower to make it collapse safely."
To drain, suck or absorb from (tree, etc.).
"The relentless erosion and chemical runoff gradually sapped the structural integrity of the ancient cliffside, causing sections to collapse into the valley below."
To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).
To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
In plain English: To sap something means to slowly take away its energy, strength, or resources until it is weak or exhausted.
"The old tree was so weak that even a slight wind could sap its strength away."
Initialism of Scientific Advisory Panel.
"The sap submitted its final report to the government last week."
The word sap comes from Old English sæp, meaning "juice." Its ultimate roots trace back to a Proto-Indo-European term related to the concept of tasting.