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• sap
  sap

  noun

  the juice or vital circulating fluid of a plant, especially of a woody plant.
• SAP
  SAP

  abbreviation

  South African Police

sap

¹ American  

[sap] / sæp /

noun

1. the juice or vital circulating fluid of a plant, especially of a woody plant.

2. any vital body fluid.

3. energy; vitality.

4. sapwood.

5. Slang. a fool; sucker; dupe.

6. Metallurgy. soft metal at the core of a bar of blister steel.

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verb (used with object)

sapped, sapping

1. to drain the sap from.

sap ² American  

[sap] / sæp /

noun

1. Fortification. a deep, narrow trench constructed so as to form an approach to a besieged place or an enemy's position.

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verb (used with object)

sapped, sapping

1. to undermine; gradually or insidiously weaken or destroy.

   Synonyms:

   undermine, weaken, tire, impair, exhaust, enfeeble, enervate, drain, deplete

2. Fortification.

   1. to approach (a besieged place or an enemy position) by means of deep, narrow trenches protected by gabions or parapets.

   2. to dig such trenches in (ground).

verb (used without object)

sapped, sapping

1. Fortification. to dig a sap.

sap ³ American  

[sap] / sæp /

noun

1. a short club with a heavy tip that is used as a weapon; blackjack; bludgeon.

   The burglar carried a set of lockpicks and a sap.

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verb (used with object)

1. to hit (someone) with a club.

   If he tries to sneak out, I'll sap him over the head.

sap ¹ British  

/ sæp /

noun

1. a solution of mineral salts, sugars, etc, that circulates in a plant

2. any vital body fluid

3. energy; vigour

4. slang a gullible or foolish person

5. another name for sapwood

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verb

1. to drain of sap

SAP ² British  

abbreviation

1. South African Police

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SAP ³ British  

/ sæp /

acronym

1. Standard Assessment Procedure, the recognized performance indicator for measuring energy efficiency in buildings

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sap ⁴ British  

/ sæp /

noun

1. a deep and narrow trench used to approach or undermine an enemy position, esp in siege warfare

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verb

1. to undermine (a fortification, etc) by digging saps

2. (tr) to weaken

sap Scientific  

/ săp /

1. The watery fluid that circulates through a plant that has vascular tissues. Sap moving up the xylem carries water and minerals, while sap moving down the phloem carries water and food.

2. See cell sap

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Other Word Forms

• sapless
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of sap¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English sæp; cognate with Dutch sap; akin to German Saft juice, Old Norse safi; sap ¹ in def. 5 a shortening of saphead

Origin of sap²

First recorded in 1585–95; from French noun sape “spade, spadework,” derivative of saper “to dig a trench,” from Italian zappare “to undermine,” a military term, based on zappa “hoe”

Origin of sap³

First recorded in 1895–1900; perhaps shortening of sapling or sapwood (used as a tool or weapon)

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Explanation

To sap something is to drain or deplete something over time. If you sap a maple tree, you drain the liquid inside it to make maple syrup. But if you sap a person of strength, you've rendered him defenseless. Whether used as a noun or verb, sap is rarely a good thing. If your energy or will is sapped, it’s not meant lightly; it means you have been exhausted of all your reserve energy, you’re reduced to a shell. If someone calls you "a sap," it suggests you lack strength and character. And if you get sap — the sticky liquid inside a tree — on your hands, good luck getting it off in the middle of a forest without a bar of soap and running water. Yuck.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sap SAP sapped sapping

About two-thirds of that hit would come from the lasting disruption to oil and gas markets, as ballooning energy bills sap households’ purchasing power and business investment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Giant hogweed contains a sap which can leave painful blistering and scarring when it comes into contact with human skin.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

One such chemical is sulfoxaflor, a next generation pesticide introduced in 2013 to eliminate sap feeding insects such as aphids on crops including soybeans and corn.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

Before, Ahmad could tap — meaning to cut incisions in the acacia trees, which exude sap that a few weeks later hardens into nodules of Hashab gum — four orchards in one go.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026

They found sap on a slim, willowy tree.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

SAP introduced that metric in early 2020, before the viral release of AI chatbots that ushered in a spending frenzy from companies seeking to harness the technology to improve their operations and financial gains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

While a student there, he interned at Massachusetts-based cloud computing company Akamai Technologies, German software company SAP, and Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

Attendees ranged from strategists at Anthropic and SAP to employees of branding firms, as well as patent attorneys who discussed AI’s influence on trademark law over coffee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

While innovation continues at a rapid pace, they say SAP investors will want poof of AI adoption from clients, realized productivity benefits and evidence that the technology can contribute meaningfully to incremental growth over time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

The area its radius vector sweeps out is therefore SAP, instead of what it would have been, SAB.

From Pioneers of Science by Sir Oliver Lodge

Low-friction digital convenience has sapped life and music of their organic weight.

From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026

In 2020, it was global lockdowns that sapped demand for fuel almost overnight, while triggering a short-lived U.S. recession.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 20, 2026

There is a strong chance that Coventry's confidence has been sapped already so Lampard will be trying to rally the troops and give his players some belief that they can compete at this level.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

In the last episode, from 2023 to 2024, drought sapped hydropower output in Zambia, hitting copper producers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

It had been a sudden and devastating death, and everyone said it was grief that had sapped the old man’s ability to make sense anymore.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

High energy prices and fading consumer sentiment are sapping the appetite of individual traders, while the spike in U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

Fifth seed Flavio Cobolli said he lacked energy in a third-round defeat, which he attributed to his volume of matches and New York's sapping heat.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

The dollar has also weakened over the past year and a half, down nearly 10% against the euro since the start of 2025, sapping the purchasing power of travelers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

What it suggests is each rally is sapping more and more strength from the bulls.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026

The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, “Communication device ... spy at camp.”

From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan

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Related Words

• blunt
• deplete
• destroy
• drain
• erode
• exhaust
• impair
• ruin
• undermine
• vitiate
• wreck

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