leap1 verbleap2 noun
leapleap1 /liːp/ ●●○ verb (past tense and past participle leapt /lept/ especially British English, leaped especially American English) 
WORD ORIGINleap1
Origin:
Old English hleapanVERB TABLE
leap
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | leap |
| he, she, it | leaps | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | leapt (BrE), leaped (AmE), leapt (AmE) |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have leapt (BrE), leaped (AmE), leapt (AmE) |
| he, she, it | has leapt (BrE), leaped (AmE), leapt (AmE) | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had leapt (BrE), leaped (AmE), leapt (AmE) |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will leap |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have leapt (BrE), leaped (AmE), leapt (AmE) |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am leaping |
| he, she, it | is leaping | |
| you, we, they | are leaping | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was leaping |
| you, we, they | were leaping | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been leaping |
| he, she, it | has been leaping | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been leaping |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be leaping |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been leaping |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- He leaped through the window and was gone.
- I leapt the fence to safety, leaving the dog snarling behind me.
- Shares leapt about 5% to $32.375.
- Tessa leaped onto the boat just as it was moving away from the bank.
- The bartender leapt over the bar and tried to stop the fight.
- The fish leaped out of the water.
- The price of gas leapt 15% overnight.
- At one point I was forced to leap into a hip-high drift to avoid being run over by an oil truck.
- But what is all that leaping into each others' arms, Peli with his legs wrapped round Jairzinho's waist?
- David Laing had leapt to his feet again, spraying his neighbours with cold coffee.
- It was leaping in stillness to receive the Light.
- Men, on the other hand, might leap higher, suspend themselves longer, and whirl faster.
- The branch shattered in half, and the gulls crouched to leap, only to be sucked under the bow waves.
- They had leapt out, screaming murderously, but now they dropped all around us, dying and dead.
- We leapt from rock to rock, trying to synchronise the landing wobble into a launch aid.
THESAURUS
verb [intransitive, transitive] to push yourself up into the air, over something etc, using your legs: · The cat jumped up onto the table.· He jumped over the stream.· His horse jumped the fence successfully.
verb [intransitive] to move forwards with little jumps between your steps, especially because you are feeling happy: · The little girl was skipping down the street.
verb [intransitive] to jump or move around on one leg: · He was hopping around because he’d injured his foot.
verb [intransitive, transitive] especially written to suddenly jump up high or a long way: · The deer leapt over the fence.· Tina leapt onto the boat as it was moving away.· Fish were leaping out of the water.
verb [intransitive] to jump up and down several times, especially on something that has springs in it: · Children love bouncing on beds.
verb [intransitive] to jump into water with your head and arms first: · Zoë dived into the swimming pool.
verb [intransitive, transitive] especially written to jump over something in one movement, using your hands or a pole to help you: · He vaulted the ticket barrier and ran for the exit.· Ben tried to vault over the bar.
Longman Language Activatorto jump in the air to push yourself off the ground or away from something, using your legs: · How high can you jump?· The driver jumped clear as his vehicle fell into the river below.jump into/onto/up etc: · My cat always jumps up onto the table when I'm trying to work.· She jumped down from the wall.
to jump several times, always landing in the same place: · At the back of the stand, Redsox fans were jumping up and down with excitement.· Stop jumping up and down -- keep still!
to jump or move forward on one leg rather than two: · Mary was hopping anxiously from one foot to another.hop along/around/over etc: · It's a game in which you hop around trying to knock the other players over.
if someone, especially a child, skips along, they move along with a little jump between their steps: · Can you skip to the other end of the playground.skip along/around etc: · The children went skipping along the path.
especially written to jump as far or high as you can: leap onto/through etc: · He leaped through the window and was gone.· Tessa leaped onto the boat just as it was moving away from the bank.· The fish leaped out of the water.
to jump into water with your head and arms first: · Roger was standing at the edge of the pool ready to dive.dive into/in/off: · Evan dived off the rock into the sea.· The pool was deserted, and Lindsey wasted no time before diving in head-first.
to go over something by jumping: jump over/across · The dog jumped the gate and ran away howling.· Ricky jumped across the stream and ran all the way home.· He raced down the garden and jumped over the wall.
especially written to go over something with a long or high jump: · I leapt the fence to safety, leaving the dog snarling behind me.leap over/across: · The bartender leapt over the bar and tried to stop the fight.
to jump over something, using your hands to help you: · He makes vaulting a five foot wall look easy.vault over: · Jack vaulted over the railings.
to jump over something easily without touching it, especially in a race: · He cleared the first two obstacles, but hit the top of the third.· There was a sprinkling of applause as the horses cleared the last fence.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
She leapt to her feet (=stood up quickly) and started shouting.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He took a flying leap and just managed to clear the stream. The treatment of breast cancer has taken a quantum leap forward.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
She leapt to her feet (=stood up quickly) and started shouting. (=suddenly start doing something)· The fire crew immediately swung into action.
· Then the cat leapt up into the tree.
(=decide something is true without knowing all the facts, especially when you are wrong)· Everyone jumped to the conclusion that we would get married.
(=they go high into the air)· Flames were leaping up the chimney.
He took a flying leap and just managed to clear the stream. (=be very noticeable)· One mistake jumped off the page.
(=increase by a large amount)
The treatment of breast cancer has taken a quantum leap forward.· Your school could leap ahead of the pack.· I feel best when we leap ahead, cause the change our-selves.
· Uttering a cry of disgust, Dauntless leapt forward and dragged Cleo up by the arm.· It leapt forward as Delaney cried out and struck it a glancing blow with the torch.· Here, there is no conferring, and Jack impulsively leaps forward with raised knife to kill it.· It was brilliantly sunny, as though summer had leapt forward a few months.· The horse was made to foil her every move, leaping forward as she moved quickly and turning her away.· Some parents leap forward eagerly and some must be dragged to the battle lines.· For one moment he looked as if he was raising his hands in surrender, then he leapt forward.· The jeep dug dirt as it leapt forward.
· They tried to leap over the sandbags, but were too slow.· Argyll leapt over the clattering boards and rolling stools.· The object was to get your pieces from your corner to an opponent's corner by leaping over his pieces.· She leapt over the ditch opposite the Martins' orchard wall and hurled herself into the undergrowth.· He knew from past experience that she was capable of leaping over to the terrace.· With a whoop he leapt over a huge spreading puddle where a drain was blocked with litter.· Like lemmings, we raced each other to leap over the cliff.· Then the van was leaping over rough ground, getting out of sight of the road.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► by leaps and bounds/in leaps and bounds► a flying jump/leap► somebody’s heart leaps
1jump a)[intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to jump high into the air or to jump in order to land in a different place: - It would be naive to believe that there aren't lots of people who would leap at the opportunity.
- Some may leap at the chance.
- But the girlfriend of deputy manager John Onanuga leapt to his defence.
- Did Geoffrey leap to the defence of every person with disabilities whom he encountered?
- The stats cant leap to his defence either.
- Proceed with caution and, at the risk of sounding like a tabloid astrologer, look before you leap.
- Whatever you decide, it pays to look before you leap.
She leapt over the fence. The smaller animals can easily leap from tree to tree. b)[transitive] literary to jump over something: Brenda leaped the gate and ran across the field.► see thesaurus at jump2move fast [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to move very quickly and with a lot of energy: I leapt up the stairs three at a time. He leapt out of bed. She leapt to her feet (=stood up quickly) and started shouting.3increase [intransitive] to increase quickly and by a large amount OPP tumbleleap to Profits leapt to £376m. He leapt 27 places to second spot.4leap at the chance/opportunity to accept an opportunity very eagerly: I leapt at the chance of studying abroad.5leap to somebody’s defence British English, leap to somebody’s defense American English to quickly defend someone: When her younger brother was being bullied she leapt to his defence.6heart [intransitive] literary if your heart leaps, you feel a sudden surprise, happiness, or excitement: My heart leaped when I saw Paul at the airport. → look before you leap at look1(12)leap out at somebody phrasal verb if a word or phrase in a piece of writing leaps out at you, you notice it particularly, because it is interesting, important etc SYN jump out atleap1 verbleap2 noun
leapleap2 ●●○ noun [countable] EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Borrowers have been warned to expect another leap in bank interest rates.
- Coffee and orange juice prices made their biggest leaps on Friday.
- Gold shares gained following a leap in the price of gold.
- I can see the Internet business growing by leaps and bounds.
- Powell won with a leap of 27 feet, 10 inches.
- With a tremendous leap, James managed to catch the ball.
- His spirits, which had dropped at her last words, rose with an irrational leap.
- In one leap, that acquisition made Northern Britain's biggest milkman, with approaching a quarter of the market.
- It encompasses both the art of spin doctoring and also our fragile human need and ability to make huge leaps of faith.
- Not the leap Halle believed it would be.
- The momentum derives not from a lulling flow or titillating suspense but from astoundingly acrobatic leaps from perch to perch.
- They will ride the surf or the bows of a vessel, constantly passing back and forth and making boisterous leaps.
- Yet our conventional forces have not made an equivalent leap into the future.
Longman Language Activatora sudden large increase
a sudden large increase in the amount or number of something -- use this especially about business costs, prices, activities etc: · Coffee and orange juice prices made their biggest leaps on Friday.leap in: · Borrowers have been warned to expect another leap in bank interest rates.· Gold shares gained following a leap in the price of gold.by leaps and bounds (=use this to emphasize how quickly something is increasing): · I can see the Internet business growing by leaps and bounds.
a very sudden and very large increase in population, in an activity, or in the numbers of something: · We live in the century of population explosion, with the world's population doubling at least every 25 years.· These people are full of hope. An economic explosion is underway in their country.explosion of: · The company cannot meet demand, and has seen an explosion of customer complaints.· No-one can say where the amazing explosion of digital services will take us.explosion in: · Officials insist the case is unrelated to the explosion in homicide rates among teenagers.
a sudden large increase in something such as trade, economic success, or a particular area of activity: · The IT market is growing, thanks to the Internet boom.boom in: · the boom in cellular phone ownership· a record-breaking boom in tourismeconomic boom (=a period of economic and financial success): · Canada enjoyed a real economic boom in the postwar years.property/productivity spending etc boom: · Motorola is one of the leaders in the global technology boom. · The impact of the property boom was first felt in the financial markets.baby boom (=a period of time when many more babies are born): · A more pressing problem is Mexico's dramatic baby boom.
a sudden increase in something such as demand, profit, interest etc: surge in: · Last year there was a surge in the company's profits to $122m.· a 31% surge in divorce rates· Stores are expecting a surge in demand as Christmas approaches.· Her books enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in the mid-1980s.surge of: · The unexpected surge of voters to the polls has surprised even opposition parties.
to make progress very rapidly if people make great strides , they make progress very rapidly towards improving knowledge or methods, especially in scientific, technical, or educational areas: · Science has made great strides since the 1970s.make great strides in: · Great strides have been made in reducing air pollution in US cities.· The conference highlighted the great strides made in education in Third World countries.make great strides towardsBritish /toward American: · We have made great strides towards equality between the sexes in legal status and rights.
to make progress very quickly towards achieving something, especially faster than other people: · Our export sales have continued to forge ahead this year.forge ahead in: · Growing environmental fears have made climate research all the more important, and Europe is forging ahead in this field.forge ahead with: · The Prime Minister promised that the government would forge ahead with the reforms.
British /improve/develop etc by leaps and bounds American if a person or the study, development etc of something comes on in leaps and bounds , they make progress very quickly, especially in knowledge or ability: · Jake was slow to learn to read, but now he's coming on in leaps and bounds.· We were very surprised to see the way this field of philosophical thought has grown by leaps and bounds.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY He threw a stick into the river and the dog went after it in a flying leap. a quantum leap (=very great increase or change) in population levelsCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He took a flying leap and just managed to clear the stream. The treatment of breast cancer has taken a quantum leap forward.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
He threw a stick into the river and the dog went after it in a flying leap. a quantum leap (=very great increase or change) in population levels (=suddenly start doing something)· The fire crew immediately swung into action.
· Then the cat leapt up into the tree.
(=decide something is true without knowing all the facts, especially when you are wrong)· Everyone jumped to the conclusion that we would get married.
(=they go high into the air)· Flames were leaping up the chimney.
He took a flying leap and just managed to clear the stream. (=be very noticeable)· One mistake jumped off the page.
(=increase by a large amount)
The treatment of breast cancer has taken a quantum leap forward.· That is, of course, unless one assumes a big leap in productivity in Dept.· This is all a big leap of faith.
· One giant leap for Fleet Street's finest.· We also might add that it took a giant leap of thought.· Organisations may take giant leaps and consequently deal with the unfamiliar.· This does not include the characters themselves, but that wouldn't now be such a giant leap to take.· Even one small step on the path of your plan can be a giant leap!· But it's a giant leap for trout, tench, roach, loach, pike, perch and bream.
· When she read the first word, J O E, her heart gave a great leap.· The use of the sea lions is a great leap forward in whale-tracking technology, Hurley said.· Certain genes make great leaps across the living world.· Then came the great leap backward.· Then her heart gave a great leap.· He needed to walk, to run, to take great leaps into the air.
· Scientific enquiry demands nothing less, and time after time huge leaps forward in understanding have been achieved in exactly that manner.· It encompasses both the art of spin doctoring and also our fragile human need and ability to make huge leaps of faith.· The tension, you might say, generated by that success caused crime fiction also to take a huge lateral leap.· The men have these huge leaps, and the women are very expressive above the waist.· The day had been a hummer: a huge leap nearer London.
· Doing history does require an imaginative leap, and contact with real evidence from the past can often assist in this process.· You have nothing to lose by trying out possible futures for size-it just requires an imaginative leap.· Very often it helps pupils to make the imaginative leap that is required of a historian.
· They can cash in on good ideas from staff and benefit from many small improvements and occasional large leaps forward.· Jumping two Post Office grades to get her job was an unexpectedly large career leap.
· There are sudden, dramatic leaps in small children's learning, interspersed with long fallow periods when nothing seems to happen.· Why do people perceive a sudden leap in status from, say, four-and-a-half years to five and from nine to ten?· He even thanked Ellen for this new, sudden, unexpected leap into maturity.
NOUN· The leap forward of the last 20 years was assisted by free movements of capital.
· By placing Franco in overall command, the Nationalists made a quantum leap forward in their efforts to secure victory.· Agricultural technologies have revolutionized farm production, resulting in quantum leaps in output.· The quantum leap expressed itself partly in population levels.· The market is forcing the players to move on in quantum leaps in order to keep their market share.· I think that there are two aspects to the question of a quantum leap in nuclear weapons.
· Knock! jokes are okay in small doses - like one every second leap year.· This is a leap year, so use that extra day to plan some great outings.· The leap year proposal ceremony was conducted near the player's entrance by Ayresome Park disc jockey Mark Page.
VERB· Bukharin went on, however, to make a leap that did not necessarily follow from his previous line of thought.· My mind would make these magic little leaps.· Sounds are the means by which he makes the leap into the unknown.· Jimmy Goddard has made a creative leap in linking the sites corresponding to the elements through the medium of sound.· Yet some writers do make the leap out of the isolation of the self.· Rincewind briefly considered making a desperate leap to safety.· And at Niagara, guides pocketed tips by pointing to the exact spot where Sam Patch had made his last successful leap.
· But Christopher has a slightly different angle on why Agnew's have decided to take this leap into the present.· We also might add that it took a giant leap of thought.· But only 200,000 have taken a leap into the dark to buy non-privatised quoted shares.· Carl Lewis took a golden leap further into history.· You've got to take a leap.· If not, some franchise will have to take a leap of faith.· Organisations may take giant leaps and consequently deal with the unfamiliar.· He just took a leap, held his breath, and stayed up.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► a leap of (the) imaginationPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► by leaps and bounds/in leaps and bounds► a flying jump/leap► somebody’s heart leaps
1a big jump SYN bound: - For my taste, there are a few too many leaps of faith required.
- For this the Middle East needs a leap of faith.
- If not, some franchise will have to take a leap of faith.
- It encompasses both the art of spin doctoring and also our fragile human need and ability to make huge leaps of faith.
- It would take only a minor leap of faith, a moment of transcendence, to believe that Christine Ashdown stared back.
- Privatization would be an untested leap of faith.
- The change is also so unprecedented that it necessitates a genuine leap of faith.
- These reforms, untested by pilot evaluations, represent a leap of faith.
- As the 1860s drew to a close, Kansas effectively put its violent heritage behind; change accelerated by leaps and bounds.
- Existing industries expanded in leaps and bounds.
- He has come on in leaps and bounds this season.
- In fact, vegetarianism is growing by leaps and bounds, particularly among the health-conscious.
- Meanwhile, California was now using up its entire entitlement and still growing by leaps and bounds.
- Meanwhile, Charles was recovering in leaps and bounds.
- Since Richard left for California last fall, my bank account has grown by leaps and bounds.
- The women's confidence increased by leaps and bounds.
- Critics also worry that compassionate conservatism is a leap in the dark without any empirical evidence to back it up.
- Ten minutes later - another leap in the dark - he offered the appointment to Churchill.
- The man who hopes to be Chancellor next week can not surely be preparing a leap in the dark.
- Proceed with caution and, at the risk of sounding like a tabloid astrologer, look before you leap.
- Whatever you decide, it pays to look before you leap.
He threw a stick into the river and the dog went after it in a flying leap.2a large increase or changequantum/great/huge etc leap a quantum leap (=very great increase or change) in population levelsleap in a 16% leap in pre-tax profitsleap forward the huge leap forward that took place in the 1980s3by/in leaps and bounds if something increases, develops, grows etc by leaps and bounds, it does it very quickly: Lifeboat technology has advanced by leaps and bounds.4 a leap of (the) imagination (also an imaginative leap) a mental process that is needed to understand something difficult or see the connection between two very different ideas5leap in the dark something you do without knowing what will happen as a result6leap of faith something you do even though it involves a risk, hoping that it will have a good result