Leap

(leep), v. i. [imp. & p. p. LEAPED (leept, Synop., § 130), rarely LEAPT; p. pr. & vb. n. LEAPING.] [A-S. hleapan, to leap, jump, run, O. Sax. hlōpan, O. Fries. hlapa, Goth. hlūpan, Icel. hlaupa, Sw. löpa, Dan. löbe, D. loopen, O. H. Ger. hloufan, loufan, M. H. Ger. loufen, N. H. Ger. laufen, to run.]

1Sense 1. To spring or rise from the ground, lifting at the same time both feet, as a man, or with all the feet, as other animals; to jump; to vault; as, a man leaps over a fence, or leaps upon a horse.

A man leapeth better with weights in his hands than without. Bacon.

2Sense 2. To spring or move suddenly; to make a sudden jump; to bound; to skip.

Leap in with me into this angry flood. Shak.

3Sense 3. To manifest joy or vivacity.

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky. Wordsworth.

n. 1. The act of leaping; a jump; a spring; a bound.

2Sense 2. Space passed by leaping.

’Tis the convenient leap I mean to try. Dryden.

3Sense 3. A hazardous or venturesome act; a step.

4Sense 4. Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.

5Sense 5. (Mining.) An abrupt shift in the position of a mineral vein.

6Sense 6. (Mus.) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other and intermediate intervals.

n. [A-S.] 1. A basket. [Obs.] Wycliffe. 2. A weel or wicker net in which fish are taken. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.