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sapper

American  
[sap-er] / ˈsæp ər /

noun

  1. a soldier employed in the construction of fortifications, trenches, or tunnels that approach or undermine enemy positions.

sapper 1 British  
/ ˈsæpə /

noun

  1. a soldier who digs trenches

  2. (in the British Army) a private of the Royal Engineers

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Sapper 2 British  
/ ˈsæpə /

noun

  1. real name Herman Cyril McNeile . 1888–1937, British novelist, author of the popular thriller Bull-dog Drummond (1920) and its sequels

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sapper

First recorded in 1620–30; sap 2 + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

George Batts, who lived in Barming, near Maidstone, Kent, was an 18-year-old sapper when he landed in France on Gold Beach in June 1944.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2022

He was a sapper in the Royal Engineers, attached to the Parachute Regiment for a few days, with the specific job of clearing barricades.

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2018

A sapper contracted a fever and realized that her wisdom teeth were coming in.

From Washington Post • Aug. 4, 2017

The newspaper Novoya Gazeta published an interview with the mother of 20-year-old sapper Vadim Tumanov, alongside a photograph of an official notice informing the local military commissar about his death.

From The Guardian • Sep. 3, 2014

He promised that we would soon have a satire acted upon the rebels, writ by the notorious wit Major-General Burgoyne, with curtain-tunes and airs by this same excellent sapper to please the crowd.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.