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• sapper
  sapper

  noun

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

  noun

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

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.

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sapper ¹ British  

/ ˈsæpə /

noun

1. a soldier who digs trenches

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

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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

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Etymology

Origin of sapper

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sapper Sapper

"Of course, it slows down the movement of troops," said the commander of a nine-man sapper squad with the call sign Dill.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2023

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

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

Others buried there include a recipient of the Victoria Cross, George Wheeler, and the grandfather of the actress Charlotte Rampling – Sapper Harris Johnson Rampling.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2025

Sapper was pregnant when she testified at Leifer’s six-week trial and said she lost the unborn baby a week before the verdicts.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 27, 2023

Elly Sapper, 34, later told the court she had questioned whether she wanted to relive the trauma that has affected more than half her life.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 27, 2023

Richard Sapper created the lamp he wanted but couldn’t find when he made the elegant yet functional Tizio lamp in 1972.

From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2022

I had a brief and warning vision of Captain Larpent, seated at an office table adorned with sheets of perfect ground-plans and elevations, issuing instructions to a tensely intelligent Sapper Sergeant.

From In Mr. Knox's Country by Martin Ross

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