English
leap
see also: LEAP, Leap
Pronunciation Verb

leap (leaps, present participle leaping; past leaped, past participle leaped)

  1. (intransitive) To jump.
    • 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.
  2. (transitive) To pass over by a leap or jump.
    to leap a wall or a ditch
  3. (transitive) To copulate with (a female beast); to cover.
  4. (transitive) To cause to leap.
    to leap a horse across a ditch
Synonyms Translations Noun

leap (plural leaps)

  1. The act of leaping or jumping.
    • L'Estrange
      Wickedness comes on by degrees, […] and sudden leaps from one extreme to another are unnatural.
    • H. Sweet
      Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides.
  2. The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
  3. A group of leopards.
  4. (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.
  5. (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.
  6. (mining) A fault.
  7. Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.
    • 1865, British Farmer's Magazine (issue 48, page 8)
      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 […]
  8. (music) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.
  9. A salmon ladder.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Adjective

leap (not comparable)

  1. (calendar) Intercalary, bissextile.
Noun

leap (plural leaps)

  1. (obsolete) A basket.
  2. A trap or snare for fish, made from twigs; a weely.
  3. Half a bushel.
LEAP
Proper noun
  1. (computing) Initialism of Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol
Leap
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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