leaf
(lēf)
[Middle English, from Old English lēaf.]
noun: pl., leaves (lēvz)
- A usually green, flattened, lateral structure attached to a stem and functioning as a principal organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in most plants.
- A leaflike organ or structure.
- Leaves considered as a group; foliage.
- The state or time of having or showing leaves: trees in full leaf.
- The leaves of a plant used or processed for a specific purpose: large supplies of tobacco leaf.
- Any of the sheets of paper bound in a book, each side of which constitutes a page.
- A very thin sheet of material, especially metal.
- Such leaves considered as a group: covered in gold leaf.
- A hinged or removable section for a table top.
- A hinged or otherwise movable section of a folding door, shutter, or gate.
- One of several metal strips forming a leaf spring.
verb: leafed, leaf·ing, leafs.
intransitive verb
- To produce leaves; put forth foliage: trees just beginning to leaf.
- To turn pages, as in searching or browsing: leafed through the catalog.
transitive verb
- To turn through the pages of.
