saplingn.
/ˈsaplɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsæplɪŋ/ 1.
a. A young tree; esp. a young forest-tree with a trunk a few inches in diameter.
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the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > characterized by age or life cycle > [noun] > young tree or sapling
spire1392
sapling1415
springa1450
sipling1513
spear1543
gelding1562
saple1589
tiller1664
treeling1847
timberline1867
treelet1874
pole1882
1415 in J. Raine Fabric Rolls York Minster (1859) 35 In ij sappelynges emptis de Gilberto Walker pro gauntrees, 3s. 8d.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xi. xi. 43 And scars this sentens prent into hys mynd, Hys douchtir for to clos wythin the rynd And stalwart sapplyne or bark of cork tre.
1543 in J. R. Walbran Mem. Abbey St. Mary of Fountains (1863) I. 412 Yonge saplings.
1543 in J. R. Walbran Mem. Abbey St. Mary of Fountains (1863) I. 413 Smale saplings.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. iv. 69 Behold mine arme Is like a blasted sapling withered vp. View more context for this quotation
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue v. 212 To preserue the timber trees, and saplins likely to become timber trees, Oke, Elme, and Ashe.
1681 T. Dineley Jrnl. Tour Ireland in Trans. Kilkenny Archæol. Soc. 2nd Ser. 4 332 The Roof of this Church is admirable, of whole Saplyns.
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 310 If the hunter chance to miss his aim, he speedily makes off to a sappling, which the bear..cannot climb.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 18 The broom's tough roots his ladder made, The hazel saplings lent their aid.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) I. 149 Saplins not proper to be cut as timber.
1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxxi. 46 The gale, it plies the saplings double.
b. used as a switch.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > cane or switch
sallow twigc1440
ferule-rod1528
ferule1559
ferula1579
cane1590
ferular1594
saplinga1712
jemmy1753
bamboo rattan1796
sallow switch1802
lathi1850
a1712 W. King Old Cheese 69 Slouch..saw his wife's vigorous hand Wielding her oaken sapling of command.
2. transferred. A young or inexperienced person.
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the world > people > person > young person > [noun]
youngeOE
younglingOE
girlc1300
youtha1325
young onec1384
birdc1405
young person1438
young blood1557
primrosea1568
slip1582
juvenal1598
quat1607
airling1611
egga1616
saplinga1616
chita1657
a slip of a girla1660
juvenile1733
young adult1762
boots1806
snip1838
spring chicken1857
yob1859
kid1884
chiseller1922
juvenile adult1926
YA1974
yoof1986
a1616 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus (1623) iii. ii. 50 Peace tender Sapling, thou art made of teares, And teares will quickly melt thy life away.
1738 G. Lillo Marina i. ii Bawd. You're a sapling to talk so to one of my experience.
1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales II. xxx. 265 The saplings from Carter's Barracks, Sydney, are three times greater nuisances than the ‘full growths’ in the Penitentiary there.
1847 F. Marryat Children of New Forest I. xi. 192 Right, my sapling; right and well said.
1905 Academy 7 Oct. 1031/2 What god or mortal reared up so fair a sapling?
3. A young greyhound (see quots.).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > greyhound > young
sapling1832
1832 [see sapling stake n. at Compounds 1].
1853 ‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound xiv. 274 The young greyhound is called a sapling till he is a year old, after which he becomes a puppy till two years old.
1892 H. Cox Coursing in H. Cox & G. Lascelles Coursing & Falconry (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 56 A sapling is a greyhound whelped on or after January 1 of the same year in which the season of running began.
4. appositively or as adj. That is a sapling.
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the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > characterized by age or life cycle > [adjective] > young
sapling1700
spear1891
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Theodore & Honoria in Fables 262 A Saplin Pine he wrench'd from out the Ground.
1815 W. Wordsworth White Doe of Rylstone i. 10 The dormitory's length laid bare, Where the wild-rose blossoms fair; and sapling ash, whose place of birth Is that lordly chamber's hearth?
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 280 The branch of a sapling tree.
Compounds
C1. Simple attributive.
sapling pole n.
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1762 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry I. 437 They [the corn-bins] are made of sapling poles, three or four inches diameter.
sapling stake n. (sense 3.)
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1832 in Altcar Coursing Cal. (1839) 47 Sapling Stakes.
1885 Field 21 Feb. 228/3 Having conspired to run in a sapling stake..a greyhound which was not a sapling.
sapling stick n.
ΚΠ
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 69 He bore no weapon in his hand, excepting a small sapling stick, with a hooked head.
1900 H. Lawson Over Sliprails 59 The wheel was boxed in, mostly with round sapling-sticks.
C2.
sapling-cup n. an open cup or tankard formed of wood, with staves hooped like a diminutive barrel.
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the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > wooden
rabbit1685
coga1689
sapling-cup1851
quassia cup1856
bidon1867
1851 Archaeol. Jrnl. 8 427 A Sapling cup—an oaken tankard for drinking new ale.
sapling-tankard n.
Derivatives
ˈsaplinghood n. the condition or state of being a sapling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > characterized by age or life cycle > [noun] > young tree or sapling > state of being
saplinghood1868
1868 J. T. Nettleship Ess. Browning's Poetry vi. 218 Just as one having a rare tree..would not, in its saplinghood, set it..in a forest of full-grown giant trees.
1903 E. K. Wallace in Critic (N.Y.) Oct. 315 Then..I grew From sapling-hood to a Tree.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1909; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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