sap
verb/sæp/
/sæp/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they sap | /sæp/ /sæp/ |
| he / she / it saps | /sæps/ /sæps/ |
| past simple sapped | /sæpt/ /sæpt/ |
| past participle sapped | /sæpt/ /sæpt/ |
| -ing form sapping | /ˈsæpɪŋ/ /ˈsæpɪŋ/ |
- to make something/somebody weaker; to destroy something gradually
- sap something The hot sun sapped our energy.
- The fever slowly sapped her strength.
- sap somebody (of something) Years of failure have sapped him of his confidence.
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’.
Check pronunciation:
sap