Literary notes about sappy (AI summary)
The word sappy is employed with notable versatility in literary works, shifting between literal and figurative realms. At times, it vividly describes the physical quality of vegetation—conveying the moist, fresh, and tender nature of tree bark, leaves, and wood, as when authors refer to a “sappy breeze” that carries a sweet, aromatic perfume or to timber depicted as “sappy” and elastic in its newness ([1], [2], [3]). In other contexts, sappy takes on a metaphorical hue, characterizing individuals or writing styles as overly sentimental or weak, sometimes even pejoratively labeling characters or their output ([4], [5], [6], [7]). Thus, whether evoking the lush texture of living nature or hinting at an excess of sappiness in emotion and style, the term enriches prose with its double-edged imagery.
- WEBER: When the stock is sappy wouldn't the sap jam the edges of the plane and roughen the bark?
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 13th Annual MeetingRochester, N.Y. September, 7, 8 and 9, 1922 - Birch is most sappy at this time of the year.”
— from The Lure of the Mississippi by D. (Dietrich) Lange - The night was dark, almost black, obliterating everything here below, and a fresh sappy breeze streamed out of its bosom.
— from Tales from Gorky by Maksim Gorky - Mr. St. George Le Mesurier Hector Northcote, commonly called "Sappy" in the bank, was a younger son of a long-drawn-out race.
— from Geoffrey Hampstead: A Novel by Stinson Jarvis - Can't you think of anything but sappy romance?
— from On With Torchy by Sewell Ford - sappy : An undesirable colloquialism for “weakly sentimental; silly.”
— from A Desk-Book of Errors in English Including Notes on Colloquialisms and Slang to be Avoided in Conversation by Frank H. Vizetelly - He was a good deal of a character, and much better company than the sappy literature he was selling.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
