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   Sap

   /sap/

   

   noun

   • 1. a tunnel or trench to conceal an assailant's approach to a fortified place.

   verb

   • 1. dig a sap or saps: historical "having sapped up to the glacis of the city ramparts, Versaillais troops entered the city"
   • ▪ make insecure by removing the foundations of: historical "a crazy building, sapped and undermined by the rats"
   • ▪ undercut by water or glacial action: historical "the waves sapped the cliffs"

   Word Origin late 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘dig a sap or covered trench’): from French saper, from Italian zappare, from zappa ‘spade, spadework’, probably from Arabic sarab ‘underground passage’, or sabora ‘probe a wound, explore’.

   Scrabble Points: 5

   • S

     1

   • A

     1

   • P

     3

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