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leap - 9 dictionary results
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leap

  [leep] verb, leaped or leapt, leap⋅ing, noun
Use leap in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to spring through the air from one point or position to another; jump: to leap over a ditch.
2. to move or act quickly or suddenly: to leap aside; She leaped at the opportunity.
3. to pass, come, rise, etc., as if with a jump: to leap to a conclusion; an idea that immediately leaped to mind.
–verb (used with object)
4. to jump over: to leap a fence.
5. to pass over as if by a jump.
6. to cause to leap: to leap a horse.
–noun
7. a spring, jump, or bound; a light, springing movement.
8. the distance covered in a leap; distance jumped.
9. a place leaped or to be leaped over or from.
10. a sudden or abrupt transition: a successful leap from piano class to concert hall.
11. a sudden and decisive increase: a leap in the company's profits.
—Idioms
12. by leaps and bounds, very rapidly: We are progressing by leaps and bounds.
13. leap in the dark, an action of which the consequences are unknown: The experiment was a leap in the dark.
14. leap of faith, an act or instance of accepting or trusting in something that cannot readily be seen or proved.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME lepen, OE hlēapan to leap, run; c. G laufen, ON hlaupa, Goth hlaupan

Related forms:
leaper, noun

Synonyms:
1. bound. See jump.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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leap   (lēp)   
v.   leaped or leapt (lěpt, lēpt), leap·ing, leaps

v.   intr.
  1. To spring or bound upward from or as if from the ground; jump: leaped over the wall; salmon leaping upriver.
    1. To move quickly or abruptly from one condition or subject to another: always leaping to conclusions.
    2. To act impulsively: leaped at the opportunity to travel.
v.   tr.
  1. To jump over: couldn't leap the brook.
  2. To cause to leap: leap a horse over a hurdle.
n.  
    1. The act of leaping; a jump.
    2. A place jumped over or from.
    3. The distance cleared in a leap.
  2. An abrupt or precipitous passage, shift, or transition: a leap from rags to riches.

[Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan.]
leap'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Leap

Leap\, n. [AS. le['a]p.]

1. A basket. [Obs.] --Wyclif.

2. A weel or wicker trap for fish. [Prov. Eng.]

Leap

Leap\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Leaped, rarely Leapt; p. pr. & vb. n. Leaping.] [OE. lepen, leapen, AS. hle['a]pan to leap, jump, run; akin to OS. [=a]hl?pan, OFries. hlapa, D. loopen, G. laufen, OHG. louffan, hlauffan, Icel. hlaupa, Sw. l["o]pa, Dan. l["o]be, Goth. ushlaupan. Cf. Elope, Lope, Lapwing, Loaf to loiter.]

1. To spring clear of the ground, with the feet; to jump; to vault; as, a man leaps over a fence, or leaps upon a horse. --Bacon.

Leap in with me into this angry flood. --Shak.

2. To spring or move suddenly, as by a jump or by jumps; to bound; to move swiftly. Also Fig.

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky. --Wordsworth.

Leap

Leap\, v. t. 1. To pass over by a leap or jump; as, to leap a wall, or a ditch.

2. To copulate with (a female beast); to cover.

3. To cause to leap; as, to leap a horse across a ditch.

Leap

Leap\, n. 1. The act of leaping, or the space passed by leaping; a jump; a spring; a bound.

Wickedness comes on by degrees, . . . and sudden leaps from one extreme to another are unnatural. --L'Estrange.

Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides. --H. Sweet.

2. Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.

3. (Mining) A fault.

4. (Mus.) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other and intermediate intervals.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : leap
Spanish: saltar, brincar,
German: springen,
Japanese: 跳ぶ
More Translations »

leap  (v.)
O.E. hleapan "to jump, run, leap" (class VII strong verb; past tense hleop, pp. hleapen), from P.Gmc. *khlaupan (cf. O.S. hlopan, O.N. hlaupa, O.Fris. hlapa, Du. lopen, Ger. laufen "to run," Goth. us-hlaupan "to jump up"), of uncertain origin, with no known cognates beyond Germanic. The noun is O.E. hlyp (Anglian *hlep). Leap year (M.E.) so called from its causing fixed festival days to "leap" ahead one day in the week. Leap-frog, the children's game, is attested from 1599.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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LEAP
Language for the Expression of Associative Procedures.
ALGOL-based formalism for sets and associative retrieval, for TX-2. Became part of SAIL.
"An ALGOL-based Associative Language", J.A. Feldman et al, CACM 12(8):439-449 (Aug 1969).

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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leap

In addition to the idioms beginning with leap, also see by leaps and bounds; look before you leap; quantum leap. Also see under jump.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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