sap

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“
If we are to spell ‘ch_y_mist’ and ‘ch_y_mistry’, it is because these words are considered to be derived from the Greek word sap; and the chymic art will then have occupied itself first with distilling the juice and sap of plants, and will from this have derived its name.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. noun The watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to the various tissues.
  2. noun The fluid contents of a plant cell vacuole.
  3. noun An essential bodily fluid.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (14)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • Make no incisions that may draw blood or sap, which is the life of man and nature. —  THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT
  • It's because the cycles of what is called 'cold recharge' - where weeks of below-freezing temperatures, followed by warmer temperatures - are shortening to the point where sugar maples are not producing the sap which is later boiled down to make maple syrup. —  TreeHugger
  • The bags collect the sap which is then boiled down to make maple syrup and sold for charity. —  WWMT.com : News
  • All previous attempts to fire the Grass had been made when the sap was running and it was thought that in its dryer condition some measure of success might be obtained. —  Greener Than You Think
  • The kettle which contained the sap was also open for the reception of the dust, and smoke, and falling leaves, and forms of dirt innumerable The first advance on this primitive method was made by building a rough arch of stone around the kettle to retain the heat and economize fuel. —  The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 3, March, 1886 Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 3, March, 1886
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

juice ·  resin ·  gum ·  syrup ·  bud ·  perfume ·  ooze ·  saliva ·  moisture ·  berry ·  herb ·  pulp

Used in the same contextWord Family

sap:   Sap ·  sapping ·  sapped ·  saps
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (7)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English sæp.
  2. Obsolete French sappe or Italian zappa, hoe, from Old French and Old Italian, both from Late Latin sappa.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. from Middle English sap = Middle Dutch, Dutch sap = Middle Low German sap, Low German sapp = Old High German saph, saf, Middle High German saf, also, with excrescent t, soft, German saft, sap; cf. Icelandic safi = Swedish Danish saft (conformed to G.): (a) Teutonic root apparently *sap, or according to the Icelandic form *sab, perhaps connected with Old Saxon sebbjan = Old High German seven, seppen, Middle High German seben, perceive, = Latin sapere, taste, perceive, know: see sapid, sapient. (b) But perhaps the Teutonic words are of Latin origin, = French séve, dial. sèpe, sive = Provencal saba = Spanish saba, sabia = Portuguese seiva, juice, sap (cf. French saber, yield sap), from Latin sapa, must, new wine boiled. Cf. Anglo-Saxon sæppe, spruce-fir, from Latin sapinus, sappinus, a kind of fir. (c) Not connected, as some suppose, with Greek ὀπός, juice, sap, = Latin sucus, succus, juice, sap, = Irish sug = Russian sokŭ, sap, = Lithuanian sakas, tree-gum: see opium, succulent.
  2. Abbr. of sappy or saphead.
  3. from sap, n.
  4. from Old French sappe, French sape, a hoe, = Spanish zapa = Portuguese sapa, a spade, = Italian zappa, a mattock, from Middle Latin sappa, sapa, a hoe, mattock, perhaps corrupted from Greek σκαπάνη, a hoe, digging-tool, from σκάπτειν, dig: see shave.
  5. from Old French sapper, French saper (= Spanish zapar = Portuguese sapar = Italian zappare), sap, undermine; from the noun: see sap, n.
 

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/sæp/
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