leap
nounEtymology
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 North Frisian laap, luup, luupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Saterland Frisian lope, loope (“to run”), West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Limburgish loupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Low German lopen, loupen (“to run”), Luxembourgish lafen (“to run”), Vilamovian łaojfa (“to run”), Danish løbe (“to run”), Faroese leypa (“to jump”), Icelandic hlaupa (“to run; to jump”), Norwegian Bokmål løpe (“to run”), Norwegian Nynorsk laupa, laupe, løpa, løpe (“to run”), Swedish löpa (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).
9 senses
- 1The act of leaping or jumping.
- 2The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
- 3A group of leopards.
- 4A significant move forward.
- 5A large step in reasoning, often one that is not…
- 6A fault.
- 7Copulation (by a male animal) with a female one.
- 8A passing from one note to another by an interval…
- 9A small cataract over which fish attempt to jump; a…
The act of leaping or jumping.
- He made a leap across the river.
- Leaps from one Extream to Another , are Unnatural Motions in the Course of our lives and Humours1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
1 more example
- 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.
- 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.1970, The Calcutta Review, page 373:
- I can see it now... a leap of Leopards eating the carcass of a Longhorn out in the Vista....2005 July 23, Next Windows to be named "Vista".:
2 more examples
- Without the Chop Chop Chop Chop Cowville seems almost normal: no hover of helicopters, no leap of leopards.2009, Cooper, The President's Dilemma: A Novel, page 131:
- 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.2017, Sandra Evans, This Is Not a Werewolf Story, page 22:
Figuratively A significant move forward.
- 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:
- Since the arrival of mainstream pornography platforms in the early 2000’s and the rise in smartphone use, online pornography consumption has shown considerable year on year leaps.2024 May 30, Germano Vera Cruz, Elias Aboujaoude, Magdalena Liberacka-Dwojak, Monika Wiłkość-Dębczyńska, Lucien Rochat, Riaz Khan, Yasser Khazaal, “How much online pornography is too much? A comparison of two theoretically distinct assessment scales”, in Archives of Public Health, volume 82, →DOI:
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.
Copulation (by a male animal) with a female one.
- 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 […]1865, British Farmer's Magazine, number 48, page 8:
Entertainment, Lifestyle, 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 small cataract over which fish attempt to jump; a salmon ladder.
- He unfortunately persevered, and the cot veered round towards the fall of the leap, and was running fast towards the rapids, when Mr. Craven lost his self-possession, and jumped out to gain a rock within a length of him, but did not succe[e]d, and he sunk in a part of the river over the leap called the dancing-hole, from which he was never more seen to rise. The cot was dashed with violence against another rock […]1837, The New Sporting Magazine, volume 12, page 358:
- […] where the Esk divides it in the middle, and forms a linn or leap, is named the How burn; […]1868, John Marius Wilson, The Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, page 24:
- Derived terms
- bearleap, Byard's Leap, Lambeau Leap, leap day, leapfrog, leapful, leaping lizards, leap in the dark, leapling, leap month, leap of faith, leaps and bounds, leap second, leap smear, leap smearing, leap week, leap year, midleap, nonleap, qualitative leap, quantum leap, take a flying leap, vertical leap