leap
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupanan (cf. Dutch lopen ‘to stroll, go for a walk’, German laufen ‘to run’, Danish løbe), from Proto-Indo-European (cf. Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).
[edit] Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iːp
[edit] Initialism
LEAP
[edit] Verb
leap (third-person singular simple present leaps, present participle leaping, simple past leaped, leapt, or archaically lept or lope, past participle leaped, leapt, or archaically lopen)
- (intransitive) To jump from one location to another.
- circa 1450, anonymous, Merlin
- It is grete nede a man to go bak to recouer the better his leep
- 1600, anonymous, 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 “Illiad” 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.
- circa 1450, anonymous, Merlin
[edit] Usage notes
The choice between leapt and leaped is mostly a matter of regional differences: leapt is preferred in British English and leaped in American English. 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.
[edit] Synonyms
- (jump from one location to another): bound, hop, jump, spring
- (jump upwards): bound, hop, jump, spring
[edit] Translations
to jump from one location to another
[edit] Noun
leap (plural leaps)
- The act of leaping or jumping.
- The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
- (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 [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.
- 1969 July 20, Neil Armstrong, as he became the first man to step on the moon
[edit] Translations
the act of leaping
distance traversed by a leap
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significant move forward
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