Sapium 
Sapium (sa'pi-um), . [NL. (Brown, 1756), 
said to be < "Celtic sap, fat, in allusion to the 
unctuous exudation from the wounded trunk " 
(Imp. Diet. ) ; but no such Celtic word is found.] 
A genus of apetalous plants of the order KH- 
pliorbiacese, tribe Crotonex, and subtribe lli/i- 
pomaneee. It is characterized by spiked or rncetned 
Bowers which are commonly glandular bracted, by two 
free stamens, and by a capsule which at length opens 
loculicidally, but long afterward retains its seeds persis- 
tent on a three-winged columella. There are about 25 
species, widely scattered through most warm regions. 
They are trees or shrubs, with alternate petioled leaves, 
which are usually entire and glandular at the base. S. 
Lauroceraxiu, var. ellipticmn (S. lawrifolium), is the Ja- 
maica milkwood or gum-tree, a middle-sized tree with 
shining leaves, abounding in an annoying milky juice. 5. 
bii/landulomm, of which there are many varieties, yields 
in the West Indies a gum like caoutchouc, and in Paraguay 
a tan-bark. The East Indian 5. Indicum has a milky sting- 
,ng juice; its leaves afford in Borneo, where it is called 
boroo, a dye and a stain for ratan, and its young fruit is 
acid and eaten as a condiment, though the fruit is said 
to be used as a poison for alligators. 
sapi-utan, sapi-outan (sap'i-o-tan), n. [Malay 
sapi-utan, 'cow of the woods' or 'wild cow,' 
< sapi, cow, + utan, woods, wild. Cf. orang- 
Sapi-utau {Anoa deprissicomis). 
iitan.} The wild cow or ox of Celebes, Anoa 
depressicornis. See Anoa. 
sapless (sap'les), a. [< sap 1 + -less.} 1. Des- 
titute of sap; dry; withered. 
A wither'd vine 
That droops his sapless branches to the ground. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 6. 12. 
Like a sapless leaflet now 
Frozen upon December's bough. 
Shelley, Written Among Euganean Hills. 
Hence 2. Destitute of or deficient in vital 
force. 
I am the root that gave thee nourishment, 
And made thee spring fair ; do not let me perish, 
Now I am old and sapless. Beau, and Fl., Captain, i. 3. 
All the books of philosophers are sapless and empty, in 
comparison of the teaching of Jesus Christ. 
Baxter, Life of Faith, iii. 10. 
sapling (sap'ling), n. [< ME. sappelynge; < 
sap 1 + -ling 1 .} 1. A young tree: especially 
applied to an immature forest-tree when its 
trunk attains three or four inches in diameter. 
What planter will attempt to yoke 
A sapling with a falling oak? 
Svrift, Cadenus and Vanessa. 
Figuratively 2. A young person. 
Peace, tender sapling ; thou art made of tears. 
Shak., Tit. And., iii. 2. 50. 
3. A greyhound that has never run in a cours- 
ing-match; a young greyhound from the time 
of whelping to the end of the first season there- 
after. 
sapling-cup (sap'ling-kup), n. An open tan- 
kard for drinking new ale. It is formed of wood, 
with staves hooped like a diminutive barrel, and has a 
wooden cover. See stave-tankard. 
sapling-tankard (sap 'ling- tang "kiird), n. 
Same as sapling-cup 
and stave-tankard. 
sapo 1 (sa'po), . [L. : 
see soap.} In phar., 
soap. 
sapo 2 (sa'po), n. [< Sp. 
sapo, a large toad.] In 
ichth., the toad-fish, 
Batrachus tau. Also 
sarpo. 
sapodilla (sap-o-dil'a), 
n. [Also sappoililla, sa- 
podillo,sapp<>dillo,sapa~ 
dil/o. stipjxtdillo ; = F. 
sapotille=D. sapodillc = 
G. sappadill, < Sp. sapo- 
tilla, dim. of sapota, the- 
sapota-tree : see sapo- 
ta.} Alargetree, Achni* 
Sapota, native in tropical America, cultivated 
there and in other tropical regions for its fruit, 
the sapodilla or sapodilla-plum. This has an acrid 
juice which disappears with incipient decay, when the 
fruit becomes very sugary. The wimd is hard, heavy, and 
Sapodilla (.Achras Sapota'i. 
the fruit ; it, the same, trans- 
versely cut 
BS36 
durable, of a reddish-brown color. Also called naseberry, 
and sometimes bully-tree. See Achras and chide ijtnti. 
sapodilla-plum (sap-o-dil'ii-plum), ii. See $a- 
jin/lilla. 
saponaceous (sap-o-ua'shius), a. [= F. sapo- 
n/ii-c = Sp. sapondceo = Pg. It. saponacco, < NL. 
"saponaceus, soapy, < L. Kapo(ii-), soap: see 
soap.} Soapy; resembling soap; having the 
properties of soap. Saponaceous bodies are 
compounds of an acid and a base, and are in 
reality a kind of salts. 
He [Lord Westbury] described a synodical judgment as 
"a well-lubricated set of words a sentence so oily and 
saponaceous that no one can grasp it." 
Diet. National Biography, IV. 429. 
saponacity (sap-o-nas'i-ti), . [< saponac-eous 
+ -ity.~] Saponaceous character or quality. 
Saponaria (sap-o-na'ri-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 
1737), so called 'with ref. to its mucilaginous 
juice, which forms a lather with water; fern, 
of "saponarius, soapy: see saponary.~] A genus 
of polypetalous plants of the order Caryophyl- 
lese and tribe Sileneee. It is characterized by a many- 
seeded capsule opening at the apex into four short valves, 
and by flowers with an obscurely veined tubular or swol- 
len calyx, five narrow, stalked petals, ten stamens, two 
styles, and a one-celled ovary with many ovules. There 
are about 35 species, natives of Europe (especially the 
southern part) and extratropical Asia. They are either 
annual or perennial herbs, often with conspicuous flowers 
and broad entire leaves. The best-known species are S. 
oJfici7Mlis,the common soapwort, fuller's-herb,or bouncing- 
bet, and S. Vaccaria, the cow-herb. See especially soap- 
wort, which is used as a general name; also cut under petal. 
saponary (sap'o-na-ri), a. [< ML. saponarius, 
a soap-maker,prop.adj., pertaining to soap,< L. 
sapo(n-), soap: see soap.] Soapy; saponaceous. 
jAoft, saponary substance. Boyle. 
saponiflable (sa-pon'i-fi-a-bl), a. [< saponify 
+ -able.} Capable of being saponified, or con- 
verted into soap. 
saponification (sa-pon"i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< sa- 
ponify + -ation (see -fication).} Conversion into 
soap; the process in which fatty substances, 
through combination with an alkali, form soap. 
In an extended sense the term is applied to the resolution 
of all ethers and analogous substances into acids and alco- 
hols. 
saponifier (sa-pon'i-fi-er), re. 1. An apparatus 
for the manufacture of glycerin and the fatty 
acids, by the decomposition of fats and the 
isolation of their several constituents. E. H. 
Knight. 2. A substance that produces saponi- 
fication, as caustic soda or potash. 
saponify (sa-pon'i-fi), v. t.; pret. and pp. sa- 
ponified, ppr. saponifying. [= F. saponifier, < 
L. sapo(n-), soap, + -ficare, (.facere, make (see 
-/#)] To convert into soap by combination 
with an alkali. 
saponin (sap'o-nin), ?i. [< L. sapo(n-), soap, 
+ -f 2 .] A glucoside (Cj^H^Oig) found in the 
root of Saponaria officinalis and many other 
plants. It is a powerful sternutatory. 
saponite (sap'o-nlt), . [< L. sapo(n-), soap, 
+ -e 2 .] A hydrous silicate of magnesia and 
alumina. It occurs in soft, soapy, amorphous 
masses, filling veins in serpentine and cavities 
in trap-rock. 
saport (sa'por), n. [< L. sapor, taste, relish, 
flavor, savor, < sapere, taste : see sapient. Doub- 
let of savor, q. v.] Taste; savor; relish; the 
power of affecting the organs of taste. 
There is some sapor in all aliments, as being to be dis- 
tinguished and judged by the gust. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 21. 
saporific (sap-o-rif'ik), a. [= F. saporifiqwe, < 
L. sapor, savor, + facere, make (see -fie).'} 
Producing or imparting taste, flavor, or relish. 
Johnson. 
saporosity (sap-o-ros'i-ti), n. [< LL. saporosus, 
savory (see savor, saporous), + -ity.} That 
property of a body by which it excites the sen- 
sation of taste. 
saporous (sap'o-rus), a. [< LL. saporosus, also 
sti purus, savory, < L. sapor, savor: see sapor.} 
Having flavor or taste ; yielding some kind of 
taste. 
Sapota (sa-po'ta), n. [NL. (Plumier, 1703), < 
Sp. zapoie (> F\ sapote) = Pg. zapota, < Mex. 
'tijint/ (cnchit-:apotl), sapote. Cf. sapodilla.} 
1. A former genus of gamopetalous plants, 
type of the order Sapotaceae, now called Achran 
(Linnaeus, 1737). See Achras, naseberry, and 
xapodilla. 2. (I. c.} The sapodilla-plum. 
Sapotaceae (sap-o-ta'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (End- 
licher, 1833), < Sapota + -acex.} An order of 
gamopetalous plants of the cohort EJienales in 
the series Hetcromcrse, typified by the genus 
AcJiras (Sapota). It is characterized by regular and 
bisexual flowers, with short erect stamens borne on the 
corolla, either as many as its lobes (sometimes with an 
sapphire 
equnl number of stiuninudia in the same or a second row) 
or twice as many in one or two series, by a superior ovary 
with a broad sessile base, and containing from two to five 
or rarely many cells, each with one amphitropous ovule, 
and by a large and straight embryo with a minute inferior 
radicle. It includes about 400 species in 40 genera and 9 
tribes, natives chiefly of the tropics, especially of islands, 
and extending in the genus Sideroxylon into South Africa. 
They are trees or shrubs with milky juice, and often cov- 
ered with a down composed of stellate hairs. They bear 
alternate rigid leaves which are entire and feather-veined ; 
their flowers are clustered at the axils of the leaves or at 
the older nodes, and have commonly rigid and obtuse 
calyx-lobes longer than the corolla tube. See Ittonandra, 
Bmnelia, Bassia, Payena, Palayuium, Mimusops, and 
Chrysophyllum, and cut under sapodilla. 
sapotaceous (sap-o-ta'shius), a. Having the 
characters of Sapota; belonging or pertaining 
to the Sapotaceae. 
sapotad (sap'o-tad), . A plant of the order 
Sapotacese. Lindley. 
sappadillo (sap-a-dil'6), . See sapodilla. 
sappan-wood, ." See sapan-wood. 
sappar, sappare (sap'ar, -ar), n. [A name 
given by Saussure to the blue disthene of the 
St. Gotthard; appar. based on sapphire, q. v.] 
A mineral, also called cyanite and disthene. See 
cyaintc. 
sapper 1 (sap'er), H. [< sap 1 + -cr 1 .} A chisel 
used in some sawing-machines to cut away 
waste or sap-wood and reduce a log to a cylin- 
drical shape. 
sapper 2 (sap'er), n. [< sap$ + -erT-. Cf. F. a- 
pem'.} One who saps; specifically, a soldier 
employed in the building of fortifications, the 
execution of field-works, and the performance of 
similar operations. Formerly in the British army the 
non-commissioned officers and privates of the Koyal Engi- 
neers received the general appellation of the Koyal Sap- 
pers and Miners. 
Nothing is gained to the celestial host by comparing it 
with the terrestrial. Angels are not promoted by brigading 
with sappers and miners. Landor, Southey and Landor, i. 
The Natchez still retained possession of a fortified out- 
post, which enfiladed the French workmen engaged in the 
trenches. On the 22d, Perier ordered it to be attacked by 
twelve grenadiers and twelve sappers. 
Gayarre, Hist. Louisiana, I. 44C. 
Sapphic (saf'ik), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also 
Stiphick, SapMh; < F. saphique = Sp. Sdfico = 
Pg. Saphico = It. Saffico (cf . G. sapphisch), < L. 
Sapphicus, < Gr. SaTr^wdf, Sapphic, belonging tc 
Sappho, < SOTT^U, Sappho (see def.).] I. a. Of 
or pertaining to Sappho, a Greek lyric poetess 
of Lesbos (about 600 B. c.), famed for the 
beauty and passionateness of her poems ; in 
pros., noting various meters used by the poet- 
ess Sappho. See phrases below Greater Sap- 
phic meter or verse, a logacedic meter consisting of 
a third Glyconic and a first Pherecratean (- I c I 
-ww|_i_ww|_w|_c)._ Lesser Sapphic meter 
or verse, a logaredic pentapody with a dactyl in the third 
place (* ^ I & | ~ ** | ^ | =>). Also called Sapphic 
hendfcasyllabic, and simply Sapphic. Lesser Sapphic 
system, Strophe, or stanza, a system consisting of three 
Sapphic hendecasyllabics, to the last of which an Adonic 
( ^ | =>) is subjoined with synaphea as epode. This 
strophe was one of the most frequent forms of versifi- 
cation in ancient lyric poetry, and was a favorite with 
Sappho, Alcteus, and Horace. Also called simply the 
Sapphic stanza. 
II. n. A Sapphic verse: used especially of the 
Lesser Sapphic verse (hendecasyllabic), and, in 
the plural, of the Lesser Sapphic system. 
Gregory and some of the Ambrosian authors occasion- 
ally wrote in mpphics. Eneyc. Brit., XII. 682. 
sapphire (saf'Ir or safer), n. and a. [Early 
mod. E. also saphir; < ME. saphir, saphyre, 
safir, safyre, suffer, < OF. saphir, saphyr, safiv, F. 
S'iphir = Pr. saphir, safier, safir = Sp. zafir, zdfiro 
= Pg. saphira, safira = It. zaffiro, sapphire, < L. 
sapplitriis (also sappir,\Aj. also sapphir,<. Heb.), 
ML. also saffirus, safirus, < Gr. oairQetpof, sap- 
phire, or more prob. lapis lazuli, < Heb. sappir 
= Ar. yo/Tr (> Pers. saff'ir), sapphire.] I. n. 1. 
A precious stone next in hardness to the dia- 
mond, and nearly as valuable when of fine 
quality: a variety of the mineral corundum, it 
embraces the ruby, the Oriental amethyst, the Oriental 
topaz, and the Oriental emerald ; the name, however, is 
always, except by modern mineralogists, limited to the 
transparent blue varieties of corundum. The two shades 
most highly valued are that which most closely resembles 
the blue of the cornflower and the rich velvety blue 
variety. Sapphires are found in Burma, British India, and 
Ceylon in Asia, and in Australia ; also in North Carolina 
and near Helena in Montana. 
Flowers purple, blue, and white; 
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery. 
Shak., M. W. of W., V. 76. 
His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 
Cant. v. 14. 
2. The color of the sapphire ; blue. 
A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass, 
A purer sapphire melts into the sea. 
Tennyson, Maud, xviii. 6. 
3. In licr., a tincture, the color blue, in blazon- 
ing by means of precious stones. Compare 
