sap

noun

1. (uncountable)The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.
2. (uncountable)The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.
3. (countable, uncountable)Any juice.
4. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Vitality.

   “In the preceding centuries the Ashkenazic Synagogue song had been Germanized to a degree that jeopardized not only its distinctive Jewishness but its very existence. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the ever-renewed Oriental sap penetrated also into the song.”

5. (countable, slang)A naive person; a simpleton.

   “Look at the sap mowing our lawn while we pretend our own lawnmower is broken.”

   “"Or trying to reproduce it." "The Mafia wouldn't do that." "Don't be a sap," Hiro says. "Of course they would." Y.T. seems miffed at Hiro.”

   “She said I'm such a sap, I'm such a jerk / Can't I ever forget the way that we are / Spend all your time with your eyes on the ground / Looking for the stars”

6. 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.
7. (US, countable, slang)A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.

   “I risk my whole future, the hatred of the cops and Eddie Mars' gang. I dodge bullets and eat saps.”

8. (British, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of statutory adoption pay, payments made by an employer to an employee who is absent from work after the adoption of a child.
9. (US, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of special access program.
10. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Abbreviation of second audio program.
11. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of structural adjustment program.
12. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of speech act participant.
13. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of superabsorbent polymer.
14. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of superabsorbent powder, made of superabsorbent polymer.

verb

1. (figuratively, transitive)To exhaust the vitality of.

   “Somewhat he knoweth of art magical, yet useth not that art; for it sappeth the life and strength, nor is it held worthy that a Demon should put trust in that art, but rather in his own might and main.”

   “While Tuchel will be delighted with the way his players responded, there will be concern at how much the energy-sapping 120 minutes has taken out of them.”

   “Alcaraz flew out of the blocks in the first-to-10 match tie-break of the deciding set, sapping every last bit of Sinner's energy before sealing victory with a remarkable running forehand winner that fizzed down the line.”

2. (transitive)To drain, suck or absorb sap from (a tree, etc.).
3. (transitive)To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.

   “Ring out the grief that saps the mind[…]”

4. (transitive)To gradually drain (someone's energy or vitality).

   “to sap one’s conscience”

   “He saps my energy.”

5. (transitive)To pierce with saps.
6. (transitive)To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.

   “Nor safe their dwellings were, for sapped by floods, / Their houses fell upon their household gods.”

7. (intransitive, transitive)To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
8. (slang, transitive)To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).

   “[A]s he passes the mouth of a narrow alley two men step out quickly. One of them saps Marlowe expertly — they drag him out of sight.”

   “And when he had me up there he would sap me again and I wouldn't remember anything that happened in between the two sappings.”

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Scientific Advisory Panel.
2. (South-Africa, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of South African Police.
3. (South-Africa, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, obsolete)Initialism of South Africa Party.
4. SAP AG, derived from the German Initialism of Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung, one of the world's largest software companies.