Sap ball (Bot.), any large fungus of the genus Polyporus. See
Polyporus. -- Sap green, a dull light green pigment prepared from the
juice of the ripe berries of the Rhamnus catharticus, or buckthorn. It
is used especially by water-color artists. -- Sap rot, the dry rot. See
under Dry. -- Sap sucker (Zoöl.), any one of several species of small
American woodpeckers of the genus Sphyrapicus, especially the
yellow-bellied woodpecker (S. varius) of the Eastern United States.
They are so named because they puncture the bark of trees and feed upon
the sap. The name is loosely applied to other woodpeckers. -- Sap tube
(Bot.), a vessel that conveys sap.
Sap, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sapped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sapping.] [F.
saper (cf. Sp. zapar, It. zapare), fr. sape a sort of scythe, LL. sappa
a sort of mattock.] 1. To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine;
to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.
Nor safe their dwellings were, for sapped by floods, Their houses
fell upon their household gods.
Dryden.