Leaping

leap  (lp)

v. leaped or leapt (lpt, lpt), leap·ing, leaps

v.intr.

1. To spring or bound upward from or as if from the ground; jump: leaped over the wall; salmon leaping upriver.

2.

a. To move quickly or abruptly from one condition or subject to another: always leaping to conclusions.

b. To act impulsively: leaped at the opportunity to travel.

v.tr.

1. To jump over: couldn't leap the brook.

2. To cause to leap: leap a horse over a hurdle.

n.

1.

a. The act of leaping; a jump.

b. A place jumped over or from.

c. The distance cleared in a leap.

2. An abrupt or precipitous passage, shift, or transition: a leap from rags to riches.

Idioms:

by leaps and bounds

Very quickly: growing by leaps and bounds.

leap in the dark

An act whose consequences cannot be predicted.

leap of faith

The act or an instance of believing or trusting in something intangible or incapable of being proved.

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[Middle English lepen, from Old English hlapan.]

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leaper n.

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Leaping 

See Also: JUMPING, ROCKING AND ROLLING

1. (The flashlight) leaped about like a will-o’-the-wisp —Brian Moore
2. Leaped from his chair as a runner leaps crouching, from the mark —Frank Swinnerton

   See Also: RISING

3. Leaped like a fawn —Pat Conroy
4. Leaped like a high jumper —Frank Conroy
5. (Goats) leaped … like arrows speeding from the bow —Willa Cather
6. Leaped like a spring released —John Updike
7. Leaped … like a startled frog —Théophile Gautier
8. Leaped up like a little singed cat —O. Henry
9. Leaps like a buck in air —Caroline Finkelstein
10. Leaps like a flash —Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings

    This is a line from the Anderson/Stallings play, What Price Glory.

11. (The pulse in his palm) leapt like a trout in a brook —Eudora Welty
12. Leaping through the air like a man released from gravity —Ed Bradley, about basketball star Michael Jordan, “Sixty Minutes,” February 15, 1987

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

leaping - a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards leap, bounce, bound, saltation, spring jumping, jump - the act of jumping; propelling yourself off the ground; "he advanced in a series of jumps"; "the jumping was unexpected" capriole, caper - a playful leap or hop pounce - the act of pouncing