leap
(lēp)
[Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan.]
verb: leaped or leapt (lĕpt, lēpt), leap·ing, leaps.
intransitive verb
- To spring or bound upward from or as if from the ground; jump: leaped over the wall; salmon leaping upriver.
- To move quickly or abruptly from one condition or subject to another: always leaping to conclusions.
- To act impulsively: leaped at the opportunity to travel.
transitive verb
- To jump over: couldn't leap the brook.
- To cause to leap: leap a horse over a hurdle.
noun
- The act of leaping; a jump.
- A place jumped over or from.
- The distance cleared in a leap.
- An abrupt or precipitous passage, shift, or transition: a leap from rags to riches.
idioms
- by leaps and bounds
- Very quickly: growing by leaps and bounds.
- leap in the dark
- An act whose consequences cannot be predicted.
- leap of faith
- The act or an instance of believing or trusting in something intangible or incapable of being proved.
derivatives
- leaṕer
- noun
