- leap
- [[t]li͟ːp[/t]]
♦♦♦leaps, leaping, leaped, leapt (past participle)(British English usually uses the form leapt as the past tense and past participle. American English usually uses leaped.)1) VERB If you leap, you jump high in the air or jump a long distance.
[V prep/adv] He had leapt from a window in the building and escaped...
[V prep/adv] The newsreels show him leaping into the air...
The man threw his arms out as he leapt.
N-COUNTLeap is also a noun.Smith took Britain's fifth medal of the championships with a leap of 2.37 metres.
2) VERB If you leap somewhere, you move there suddenly and quickly.[V prep/adv] The two men leaped into the jeep and roared off...
[V prep/adv] With a terrible howl, he leapt forward and threw himself into the water.
3) VERB If a vehicle leaps somewhere, it moves there in a short sudden movement.[V adv/prep] The car leapt forward.
4) N-COUNT: oft N in n A leap is a large and important change, increase, or advance. [JOURNALISM]The result has been a giant leap in productivity.
...the leap in the unemployed from 35,000 to 75,000...
Contemporary art has taken a huge leap forward in the last five or six years.
5) VERB If you leap to a particular place or position, you make a large and important change, increase, or advance.[V prep] Warwicks leap to third in the table, 31 points behind leaders Essex.
6) VERB If you say that your heart leaps, you mean that you experience a sudden, very strong feeling of surprise, fear, or happiness. [LITERARY]My heart leaped at the sight of her.
7) VERB If you leap at a chance or opportunity, you accept it quickly and eagerly.[V at n] The post of principal of the theatre school became vacant and he leapt at the chance.
Syn:8) PHRASE: usu PHR after v (emphasis) You can use in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds to emphasize that someone or something is improving or increasing quickly and greatly.He's improved in leaps and bounds this season...
The total number of species on the planet appears to be growing by leaps and bounds.
9) PHRASE: usu PHR after v If you take a leap in the dark or a leap into the unknown, you do something without having any previous experience in that activity or knowledge of it.Prudent people are not going to take a leap in the dark...
Once more he's making a leap into the unknown without a plan.
English dictionary. 2008.
