leapern.
/ˈliːpə/, U.S. /ˈlipər/ One who leaps.† 1. † b. [After Dutch looper.] An irregular soldier.
a. A runner; a dancer. Also with adverbs. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > dancer generally > [noun]
leapera1000
sailour?a1366
tripperc1380
dancerc1440
sallierc1440
hopperc1480
flinger?a1513
foot clapper1620
pranker1628
saltatorya1640
prancer1653
apache dancer1912
hoofer1923
rug-cutter1934
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > going swiftly on foot > [noun] > running > a runner
leapera1000
coursera1400
yernera1400
runner1440
a1000 Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 889 On þissum geare wæs nan færeld to Rome, buton tuegen hleaperas Ælfred cyng sende mid gewritum.
c1000 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 311 Saltator, hleapere.
a1382 [implied in: Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. ix. 4 With a leperesse, or tumbler [a1425 L.V. daunseresse, L. saltatrice], be thou not besy. (at leaperess n.)].
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. x. 107 The whiche aren lunatik lollers and leperes a-boute.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 297/1 Lepare, or rennare, cursor. Lepare, or rennar a-wey, fugax.
1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Saulteur ou danseur, a leaper, or daunser.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by type of service > [noun] > irregular
ribaldc1330
leaper1604
partisan1692
rapparee1692
1604 E. Grimeston tr. True Hist. Siege Ostend 116 Generall Vere sent forth some of his Leapers or aduenturers to take some prisoner of the enemies Campe.
2.
a. A person or an animal that leaps or jumps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > leaping, springing, or jumping > [noun] > one who or that which
leaperc1325
loper1483
vaulter1552
gamboller1587
springer1609
jumper1611
kangaroo1865
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > habits and actions of horse > [noun] > leap > horse that leaps or prances
prancer?1566
curvetter1678
leaper1774
jumper1886
c1325 Names of Hare in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 133 The wilde der, the lepere.
?1573 L. Lloyd Pilgrimage of Princes f. 117 Wrastlers, leapers, runners and such like games were appointed.
1700 J. Wallis in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 318 Who did..out-leap..the next-best leaper..by seven inches.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 366 The Danish horses were good leapers.
1836 C. Shaw Let. 9 May in Personal Mem. & Corr. (1837) 568 The most extraordinary leaper, and perhaps most active man in Europe.
1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Market Harborough 275 The two horses..both capital leapers.
b. An animal which uses leaping as a mode of progression.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by locomotion > [noun] > that leaps or jumps
hoppera1325
jumper1771
leaper1796
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 254 They are also called springers, or leapers, from the agility with which they leap, rather than walk.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 332 Laurenti, in 1768, in his Synopsis of Reptiles, divides them into three orders, viz. Leapers, as the frogs; Walkers, as the lizards; and Serpents.
1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 121 These true Orthoptera may be readily divided into three tribes, namely, the Leapers, or Saltatoria, the Runners, or Cursoria; and the Earwigs, or Euplexoptera.
3. A hollow cylinder with a hook at one end, employed in untwisting old ropes. Cf. loper n. 2. (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1875.)
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1000