sag

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Sagged p. pr. & vb. n. Sagging ] [ Akin to Sw. sacka to settle, sink down, LG. sacken, D. zakken. Cf. Sink, v. i. ] 1. To sink, in the middle, by its weight or under applied pressure, below a horizontal line or plane; as, a line or cable supported by its ends sags, though tightly drawn; the floor of a room sags; hence, to lean, give way, or settle from a vertical position; as, a building may sag one way or another; a door sags on its hinges. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: To lose firmness or elasticity; to sink; to droop; to flag; to bend; to yield, as the mind or spirits, under the pressure of care, trouble, doubt, or the like; to be unsettled or unbalanced. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear,
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To loiter in walking; to idle along; to drag or droop heavily. [ 1913 Webster ]

To sag to leeward (Naut.), to make much leeway by reason of the wind, sea, or current; to drift to leeward; -- said of a vessel. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to bend or give way; to load. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Sagas [ Icel., akin to E. saw a saying. See Say, and cf. Saw. ] A Scandinavian legend, or heroic or mythic tradition, among the Norsemen and kindred people; a northern European popular historical or religious tale of olden time. [ 1913 Webster ]

And then the blue-eyed Norseman told
A saga of the days of old. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. sagax, sagacis, akin to sagire to perceive quickly or keenly, and probably to E. seek. See Seek, and cf. Presage. ] 1. Of quick sense perceptions; keen-scented; skilled in following a trail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sagacious of his quarry from so far. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, of quick intellectual perceptions; of keen penetration and judgment; discerning and judicious; knowing; far-sighted; shrewd; sage; wise; as, a sagacious man; a sagacious remark. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instinct . . . makes them, many times, sagacious above our apprehension. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

Only sagacious heads light on these observations, and reduce them into general propositions. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Shrewd. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Sa*ga"cious*ly, adv. -- Sa*ga"cious*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. sagacitas. See Sagacious. ] The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of judgment; shrewdness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some [ brutes ] show that nice sagacity of smell. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Natural sagacity improved by generous education. V. Knox. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Penetration; shrewdness; judiciousness. -- sage>Sagacity, Penetration. Penetration enables us to enter into the depths of an abstruse subject, to detect motives, plans, etc. Sagacity adds to penetration a keen, practical judgment, which enables one to guard against the designs of others, and to turn everything to the best possible advantage.sage> [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. [ Cf. Sachem. ] The head of a tribe among the American Indians; a chief; -- generally used as synonymous with sachem, but some writters distinguished between them, making the sachem a chief of the first rank, and a sagamore one of the second rank. “Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow.” Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A juice used in medicine. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Sagapenum. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. sagapenon, sacopenium, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. sagapin, gomme sagapin, sagapénum, Ar. sikbīnaj, Per. sakbīnah, sikbīnah. ] (Med.) A fetid gum resin obtained from a species of Ferula. It has been used in hysteria, etc., but is now seldom met with. See also asafetida. U. S. Disp. [ 1913 Webster ]