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sap

noun
🔊/sæp/
🔊/sæp/
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  1. [uncountable] the liquid in a plant or tree that carries food to all its parts（植物体内运送养分的）液，汁
    • Maple syrup is made from sap extracted from the sugar maple tree.槭糖浆是用糖槭树中提取的树液制成的。🔊🔊
    Topics Plants and treesc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • plant
    • tree
    verb + sap
    • collect
    • extract
    sap + verb
    • flow
    • rise
    See full entry
  2. [countable] (especially North American English, informal) a stupid person that you can easily trick, or treat unfairly笨蛋；易上当的人
    • The poor sap never knew what was going on behind his back.可怜的树汁永远不知道背后发生了什么。
    Topics Personal qualitiesc2
    3. Word Originnoun sense 1 Old English sæp, probably of Germanic origin. The verb (dating from the mid 18th cent.) is often interpreted as a figurative use of the notion “drain the sap from”, but is derived originally from the verb sap, in the sense ‘undermine’. noun sense 2 early 19th cent.: abbreviation of dialect sapskull ‘person with a head like sapwood’, from sap (in the sense ‘sapwood’) + skull.

sap

verb
🔊/sæp/
🔊/sæp/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they sap
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🔊/sæp/
he / she / it saps
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past simple sapped
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past participle sapped
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-ing form sapping
🔊/ˈsæpɪŋ/
🔊/ˈsæpɪŋ/
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  1. to make something/somebody weaker; to destroy something gradually使虚弱；削弱；逐渐破坏
    • sap something The hot sun sapped our energy.火辣辣的太阳烤得我们虚软无力。🔊🔊
    • The fever slowly sapped her strength.发烧慢慢削弱了她的体力。
    • sap somebody (of something) Years of failure have sapped him of his confidence.连年失败使他逐渐丧失了自信。🔊🔊
    Word Originverb Old English sæp, probably of Germanic origin. The verb (dating from the mid 18th cent.) is often interpreted as a figurative use of the notion “drain the sap from”, but is derived originally from the verb sap, in the sense ‘undermine’.