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, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną. Doublet of lope, lowp, elope, gallop, galop, interlope, and loop.
Cognate with West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Danish løbe, Norwegian Bokmål løpe, from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).
Verb
leap (third-person singular simple present leaps, present participle leaping, simple past leaped or leapt or (archaic) lept or (archaic) lope, past participle leaped or leapt or (archaic) lept or (archaic) lopen)
- (intransitive) To jump.
c. 1450, anonymous author, Merlin:It is grete nede a man to go bak to recouer the better his leep
1600, anonymous author, The wisdome of Doctor Dodypoll, act 4:I, I defie thee: wert not thou next him when he leapt into the Riuer?
- 1783, Hugh Blair, from the “Iliad” in Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, lecture 4, page 65
- Th’ infernal monarch rear’d his horrid head, Leapt from his throne, lest Neptune’s arm should lay His dark dominions open to the day.
- 1999, Ai, Vice: New & Selected Poems, page 78
- It is better to leap into the void.
- (transitive) To pass over by a leap or jump.
to leap a wall or a ditch
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XL, page 62:Deep folly! yet that this could be—
That I could wing my will with might
To leap the grades of life and light,
And flash at once, my friend, to thee: […]
- (archaic, transitive) To copulate with (a female beast)
- (archaic) To copulate with (a human)
1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):go leap her, and engender young devilings
- (transitive) To cause to leap.
to leap a horse across a ditch
Usage notes
The choice between leapt and leaped is often generally a matter of regional differences: leapt is preferred in British English whereas leaped is somewhat more common in American English (although this is not to say that leapt is not used in American English, especially in areas with historical ties to England). According to research by John Algeo (British or American English?, Cambridge, 2006), leapt is used 80% of the time in UK and 32% in the US.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
- Arabic: وَثَبَ (ar) (waṯaba)
- Armenian: թռավ (tʻṙav), ցատկել (hy) (cʻatkel)
- Aromanian: sar, ansar
- Asturian: saltar
- Basque: saltatu (eu)
- Breton: lammat (br), sailhañ
- Bulgarian: скачам (bg) (skačam)
- Catalan: saltar (ca)
- Cherokee: ᎠᎵᏔᏕᎦ (alitadega)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 跳躍/跳跃 (zh) (tiàoyuè), 飛躍/飞跃 (zh) (fēiyuè)
- Czech: skočit (cs), přeskočit (cs)
- Danish: springe (da), hoppe (da)
- Dutch: springen (nl), wippen (nl), huppen (nl)
- Esperanto: eksalti
- Estonian: hüppama
- Faroese: leypa, hoppa, støkka, springa
- Finnish: loikata (fi), hypätä (fi), ponnahtaa (fi)
- French: sauter (fr), bondir (fr)
- Friulian: saltâ
- Galician: brincar, choutar (gl), pular (gl), avantar, galgar, ralbar, pinchar
- Georgian: ხტომა (xṭoma), ხტუნვა (xṭunva), ხტუნაობა (xṭunaoba), ნახტომი (naxṭomi)
- German: springen (de), einen Satz machen, hüpfen (de)
- Greek: πάλλομαι (el) (pállomai), αναπηδώ (el) (anapidó), ξεπετάγομαι (el) (xepetágomai), πετάγομαι (el) (petágomai)
- Ancient: ἅλλομαι (hállomai), θρῴσκω (thrṓiskō), πηδάω (pēdáō)
- Gujarati: કૂદવું (kūdvũ), ઠેકવું (ṭhekvũ)
- Haryanvi: डाक (ḍāk)
- Hebrew: קפץ (he)
- Higaonon: lagso
- Hindi: कूदना (hi) (kūdnā)
- Indonesian: lompat (id), loncat (id), melompat (id), meloncat (id)
- Ingrian: hypätä
- Irish: léim
- Italian: saltare (it)
- Japanese: 飛躍する (ja) (ひやくする, hiyaku suru), 跳躍する (ja) (ちょうやくする, chōyaku suru)
- Khmer: បង្គ្រប់ (km) (bangkrob)
- Latin: saliō, circumsilio
- Luxembourgish: sprangen
- Macedonian: отскокнува (otskoknuva), скокнува (skoknuva)
- Maltese: qabża
- Maori: peke, arawhiti (in response to a command)
- Middle English: lepen, spryngen
- Mongolian: харайх (mn) (xarajx), үсрэх (mn) (üsrex)
- Neapolitan: zumpà
- Norwegian: sprang, hopp (no), hoppe (no)
- Occitan: sautar (oc), saltar (oc)
- Old English: hlēapan
- Persian: جستن (fa) (jastan), سکیزیدن (fa) (sekizidan)
- Polish: skakać (pl), skoczyć (pl), przeskakiwać (pl), (over something) przeskoczyć (pl)
- Portuguese: saltar (pt)
- Romanian: sări (ro), sălta (ro)
- Russian: скака́ть (ru) impf (skakátʹ), скакну́ть (ru) pf (skaknútʹ), пры́гать (ru) impf (prýgatʹ), пры́гнуть (ru) pf (prýgnutʹ), вска́кивать (ru) (vskákivatʹ)
- Sanskrit: प्रवते (pravate), हठति (sa) (haṭhati)
- Scottish Gaelic: leum
- Slovak: skočiť, skákať, preskočiť, (over something) preskakovať
- Spanish: saltar (es)
- Swedish: hoppa (sv), springa (sv) (older)
- Tagalog: sumibol, lumukso, luksuhin, lumundag, lundagin
- Tamil: பாய் (ta) (pāy), தாவு (ta) (tāvu)
- Thai: เผ่น (th) (pheen)
- Turkish: sıçramak (tr), zıplamak (tr), atlamak (tr), hoplamak (tr), tüngümek, fırlamak (tr)
- Vietnamese: nhảy (lên, qua, ...)
- Walloon: potchî (wa), zoupler (wa), såtler (wa)
- West Frisian: springe, ljeppe
- Zazaki: tılobyayen
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Noun
leap (plural leaps)
- The act of leaping or jumping.
He made a leap across the river.
- 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics
- Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides.
- The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
- A group of leopards.
1970, The Calcutta Review, page 373:Manikanta returned to the palace riding on a royal tiger accompanied by a leap of leopards to the utter surprise of the inhabitants of Pantalam.
2005 July 23, Next Windows to be named "Vista".:I can see it now... a leap of Leopards eating the carcass of a Longhorn out in the Vista....
2009, Cooper, The President's Dilemma: A Novel, page 131:Without the Chop Chop Chop Chop Cowville seems almost normal: no hover of helicopters, no leap of leopards.
2017, Sandra Evans, This Is Not a Werewolf Story, page 22:I felt like the only one of my kind, and all around me were the other kids in their groups like herds of wildebeests and prides of lions and crashes of rhinos and unkindnesses of ravens and leaps of leopards and wrecks of sea hawks.
- (figuratively) A significant move forward.
- 1969 July 20, Neil Armstrong, as he became the first man to step on the moon
- That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
- (figuratively) A large step in reasoning, often one that is not justified by the facts.
- It's quite a leap to claim that those cloud formations are evidence of UFOs.
- (mining) A fault.
- Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.
1865, British Farmer's Magazine, number 48, page 8:Much difference of opinion exists as to the number of bullings a cow should receive. Here, I think, good judgment should be used. If the bull is cool and quiet, and some time has intervened since he had his last cow, one good leap is better than more […]
- (music) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.
- A salmon ladder.
Derived terms
Translations
the act of leaping
— see also jump
- Azerbaijani: sıçrayış
- Bulgarian: скок (bg) m (skok)
- Catalan: salt (ca)
- Czech: skok (cs) m
- Danish: spring (da) n, hop (da) n
- Dutch: sprong (nl) m
- Finnish: hyppy (fi), loikka (fi)
- French: saut (fr) m, bond (fr) m
- Galician: salto (gl) m, pincho m, chimpo m, pulo (gl) m
- German: Sprung (de) m, Satz (de) m
- Greek: άλμα (el) n (álma)
- Ancient: πήδημα m (pḗdēma), ἅλμα n (hálma)
- Indonesian: lompatan (id)
- Ingrian: hyppy
- Irish: (please verify) léim f2
- Italian: salto (it) m
- Japanese: 跳躍 (ja) (ちょうやく, chōyaku)
- Latin: saltus (la) m
- Old English: hlīep m
- Plautdietsch: Sprunk m
- Polish: skok (pl) m inan, sus (pl) m inan
- Portuguese: salto (pt) m
- Romanian: săltare (ro) f, salt (ro) n
- Russian: скачо́к (ru) m (skačók), прыжо́к (ru) m (pryžók)
- Scottish Gaelic: leum m
- Spanish: salto (es) m
- Swedish: hopp (sv) n, språng (sv) n
- Vietnamese: (please verify) bước nhảy, (please verify) sự nhảy, (please verify) việc nhảy
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distance traversed by a leap
significant move forward
- Azerbaijani: sıçrayış
- Bulgarian: скок (bg) m (skok)
- Danish: spring (da) n, hop (da) n
- Dutch: sprong (nl) m
- Finnish: hyppy (fi), hyppäys
- German: Sprung (de) m, Satz (de) m
- Greek: άλμα (el) n (álma)
- Japanese: 飛躍 (ja) (ひやく, hiyaku), 躍進 (ja) (やくしん, yakushin)
- Polish: krok (pl) m inan, skok (pl) m inan
- Portuguese: salto (pt) m
- Russian: скачо́к (ru) m (skačók), ры́во́к (ru) m (rývók), проры́в (ru) m (prorýv), (rarely) прыжо́к (ru) m (pryžók)
- Scottish Gaelic: leum m
- Slovak: skok (sk) m, pokrok m
- Swedish: hopp (sv) n, språng (sv) n
- Vietnamese: thành tích (vi), tiến bộ (vi)
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Translations to be checked
Adjective
leap (not comparable)
- (calendar) Intercalary, bissextile.
Etymology 2
From Middle English lep, from Old English lēap (“basket”), from Proto-West Germanic *laup, from Proto-Germanic *laupaz (“container, basket”). Cognate with Icelandic laupur (“basket”).
Alternative forms
Noun
leap (plural leaps)
- A trap or snare for fish, made from twigs; a weely.
- Half a bushel.
Derived terms
References
Anagrams
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *laup, from Proto-Germanic *laupaz (“container, basket”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lewb- (“to peel, break off, damage”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew-, *lewH- (“to cut, divide, separate, release”). Cognate with Old Frisian lēpen (“vessel, grain measure”), Middle Low German lôp and lö̂pen (“measuring vessel, small bushel, grain measure”), Old Norse laupr (“basket”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lēap m
- basket
- container, vessel
- (measurement) basketful
- a weel for catching fish; weely
Inflection
Declension of leap (strong a-stem)
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants