What does sapping mean?

Definitions for sapping
sap·ping

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word sapping.


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Wikipedia

  1. Sapping

    Sapping is a term used in siege operations to describe the digging of a covered trench (a "sap") to approach a besieged place without danger from the enemy's fire. The purpose of the sap is usually to advance a besieging army's position towards an attacked fortification. It is excavated by specialised military units, whose members are often called sappers. By using the sap, the besiegers could move closer to the walls of a fortress, without exposing the sappers to direct fire from the defending force. To protect the sappers, trenches were usually dug at an angle in zig-zag pattern (to protect against enfilading fire from the defenders), and at the head of the sap a defensive shield made of gabions (or a mantlet) could be deployed. Once the saps were close enough, siege engines or cannon could be moved through the trenches to get closer to—and enable firing at—the fortification. The goal of firing is to batter a breach in the curtain walls, to allow attacking infantry to get past the walls. Prior to the invention of large pieces of siege artillery, miners could start to tunnel from the head of a sap to undermine the walls. A fire or gunpowder would then be used to create a crater into which a section of the fortifications would fall, creating a breach. Before the development of explosives, sapping was the undermining of an enemy's fortifications, which would collapse when the sap's supports were removed. Later, explosives were placed surreptitiously in the undermining sap or mine, then detonated, as was done with 450 tons of high explosive in the First World War battle of Messines, the largest planned explosion until the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Sapping

    of Sap

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Sapping

    sap′ing, n. the act of excavating trenches.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. sapping

    The art of excavating trenches of approach, under the musketry-fire of the besieged.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of sapping in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of sapping in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of sapping in a Sentence

  1. Joe Biden:

    So gas is up and food is up, which we're going to get down come hell or high water, inflation -- it's sapping the strength of a lot of families.

  2. Lee Sang-jae:

    If the decline in February was mainly driven by sapping Chinese demand, exports would fall even worse in March and April as negative perceptions over Made-in-Korea products spread.

  3. Lee Sang-jae:

    Per-day exports were seen subdued especially in the second half of February, if the decline in February was mainly driven by sapping Chinese demand, exports would fall even worse in March and April as negative perceptions over Made-in-Korea products spread.

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Translations for sapping

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"sapping." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/sapping>.

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