Sapper

//ˈsæpɚ// noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A combat engineer; an engineer or a soldier engaged in attacking, destroying, and circumventing or building fortifications, bridges, and roads; a military engineer active in a combat zone.

    "his knowledge of Arabic and freedom from the theories of the ordinary sapper-school enabled him to teach the art of demolition to unlettered Beduin in a quick and ready way."

  2. 2
    a military engineer who does sapping (digging trenches or undermining fortifications) wordnet
  3. 3
    An officer or private of the Royal Engineers. British, colloquial

    "By a remarkable piece of railway reconstruction work on the part of the Allied Forces—mainly South African railway construction troops—mines laid along the track by the retreating enemy were removed by sappers, and the German damage made good, within 7 days."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French sappeur (French sapeur). By surface analysis, sap + -er.

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