sapless

Adjective

sapless (comparative more sapless, superlative most sapless)

1. Lacking in sap.
   • […] Thou
     For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
     Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
     The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
     The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
     Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
     And tremble to despoil themselves: O, hear!1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, part III, stanza III, pages 190-191
   • Below, all their earthward-looking branches are sapless and shattered, splintered by the weight of many winters’ snows; above, they are still green and full of life, but their summits overtop all the deciduous trees around them, and in their companionship with heaven they are alone.1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes, chapter 13, in Elsie Venner, volume I, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, page 234
2. (figuratively) Lacking vivacity.
   • O young John Talbot! I did send for thee
     To tutor thee in stratagems of war,
     That Talbot’s name might be in thee revived
     When sapless age and weak unable limbs
     Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • O smooth my rugged heart, and there
     Engrave thy rev’rend Law and fear:
     Or make a new one, since the old
     Is saplesse grown,
     And a much fitter stone
     To hide my dust, then thee to hold.1638, George Herbert, “Nature”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, 5th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] T[homas] Buck, and R[oger] Daniel...