sapling

[sap-ling] /ˈsæp lɪŋ/
noun
1.
a young tree.
2.
a young person.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English; see sap1, -ling1
Examples from the web for sapling
  • Wanda then picked up a small twig, perched herself on a sapling branch, and poked her stick in a downward direction.
  • Sometimes the families request that a sapling be planted in the other tree's place.
  • Control methods include cutting the tree or sapling down and treating the stump with an herbicide to prevent resprouting.
  • No more than sapling tied to sapling, oak though they may be, makes an oak.
  • sapling shrubs benefited from the open canopy treatments more than sapling trees.
  • Promote development beyond the sapling phase by reducing grazing and conifer re-establishment.
  • The crown is dense and there is little or no understory, which means there is no pool of seedling or sapling-sized individuals.
British Dictionary definitions for sapling

sapling

/ˈsæplɪŋ/
noun
1.
a young tree
2.
(literary) a youth
Word Origin and History for sapling
n.

early 14c., from sap (n.1) + diminutive suffix -ling. This probably is the source of American English slang sap (n.3) "club, short staff" (1899) and the verb sap (v.2) "to hit (someone) with a sap" (1926).