The watery fluid in plants that carries nutrients, or to gradually weaken something. As a verb, it means to drain strength or energy from something.
From Old English 'sæp,' related to Old Norse 'sapi.' The word originally referred to the vital juice flowing through trees, and by extension came to mean depleting or exhausting anything of its vital force.
Trees actually have a transportation system as sophisticated as our blood vessels—sap moves nutrients and water throughout the entire plant using pressure and chemistry. When we say someone 'saps' our energy, we're using a metaphor that's been around for over a thousand years!
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