Trench vs. Sap — What's the Difference?

A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).In geology, trenches result from erosion by rivers or by geological movement of tectonic plates. In civil engineering, trenches are often created to install underground utilities such as gas, water, power and communication lines.

Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.

A long, narrow ditch

The watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to the various tissues.

A long, narrow, deep depression in the ocean bed, typically one running parallel to a plate boundary and marking a subduction zone

See cell sap.

A trench coat.

Health and energy; vitality

Dig a trench or trenches in (the ground)

(Slang) A foolish or gullible person.

Border closely on; encroach on

A covered trench or tunnel dug to a point near or within an enemy position.

A deep furrow or ditch.

A leather-covered bludgeon with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon.

A long narrow ditch embanked with its own soil and used for concealment and protection in warfare.

To drain (a tree, for example) of sap.

A long, steep-sided valley on the ocean floor.

To deplete or weaken gradually

To dig or make a trench or trenches in (land or an area, for example).

To undermine the foundations of (a fortification).

To place in a trench

To dig a sap.

To dig a trench or trenches.

To hit or knock out with a sap.

To encroach. Often used with on or upon

(uncountable) The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.

To verge or border. Often used with on or upon

(uncountable) The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.

A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.

Any juice.

(military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.

(figurative) Vitality.

(archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.

A naive person; a simpleton

(informal) A trench coat.

A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.

To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.

(military) A narrow ditch or trench made from the foremost parallel toward the glacis or covert way of a besieged place by digging under cover of gabions, etc.

To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.

(transitive) To drain, suck or absorb from (tree, etc.).

(archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.

To exhaust the vitality of.

To have direction; to aim or tend.

To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).

To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.

(transitive) To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.

To cut furrows or ditches in.

To pierce with saps.

To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.

(transitive) To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.

To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, or the like.

(transitive) To gradually weaken.

To fortify by cutting a ditch, and raising a rampart or breastwork with the earth thrown out of the ditch; to intrench.

(intransitive) To proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; to execute saps.

To cut furrows or ditches in; as, to trench land for the purpose of draining it.

The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.

To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next; as, to trench a garden for certain crops.

The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.

To encroach; to intrench.

A simpleton; a saphead; a milksop.

To have direction; to aim or tend.

A narrow ditch or trench made from the foremost parallel toward the glacis or covert way of a besieged place by digging under cover of gabions, etc.

A long, narrow cut in the earth; a ditch; as, a trench for draining land.

To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.

An alley; a narrow path or walk cut through woods, shrubbery, or the like.

To pierce with saps.

An excavation made during a siege, for the purpose of covering the troops as they advance toward the besieged place. The term includes the parallels and the approaches.

To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.

A ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth

To proceed by mining, or by secretly undermining; to execute saps.

A long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor

A watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant

Any long ditch cut in the ground

A person who lacks good judgment

Impinge or infringe upon;

A piece of metal covered by leather with a flexible handle; used for hitting people

Fortify by surrounding with trenches;

Deplete;

Cut or carve deeply into;

Excavate the earth beneath

Set, plant, or bury in a trench;

Cut a trench in, as for drainage;

Dig a trench or trenches;