Forms: 1 hlýp, 3 lupe (ü), leope, leep(e, (lip), 4–6 lepe, 6–7 leape, 6– leap. [OE. hlýp, Anglian *hlép str. masc.:—OTeut. type *hlaupi-z, corresponds (apart from declension) to OFris. (bec-)hlêp, Du. loop, OHG. hlouf (MHG. louf, mod.Ger. lauf), ON. hlaup neut. (Da. løb, Sw. löp- in compounds); f. root of LEAP v.]
1. An act of leaping; a springing from the ground or other standing-place; a bound, jump, spring.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 747 (Gr.). Swa we men sculon heortan ʓehyʓdum hlypum styllan.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 23. A muche lupe duneward.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 55. And forto make þat good he lepe ouer þe wal at oo leepe.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1761. Þou … maa þi lepis & þi laikis & quat þe liste ellis, As ratons or ruȝe myse in a rowme chambre.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3436. He at a leep was at hir and hir kyste.
c. 1450. Merlin, 142. It is grete nede a man to go bak to recouer the better his leep.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, III. v. The herte lepte a grete lepe.
1573. Baret, Alv., L. 204. A leap or jump.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 184. They spring away with most stupendious leaps.
1700. Wallis, in Collect. (O. H. S.), I. 318. Mr. Bosely [was] observed to have leaped, at six continued leaps, one and twenty yards, three quarters and some odd inches.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 223, ¶ 4. Those who had taken this Leap were observed never to relapse into that Passion.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 322. It sometimes happens, however, that they [salmon] want strength to make the leap.
1825. Sporting Mag., XV. 346. Our elders took leaps, now they are all jumps.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 61. For the ‘Standing Leap,’ bring the horse up to the bar at an animated walk…. For the ‘Flying Leap,’ the horse must not be hurried.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., i. 7. The spot … from whence the Mameluke … took the famous leap on horseback.
b. transf. and fig. esp. An abrupt movement or change: a sudden transition. Also with an adv., as leap-up.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 264. De saltu lunæ.… Þæt is ðæs monan hlyp for þan þe he oferhlypð ænne dæʓ.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 48. Þe heorte is a ful wilde best, and makeð monie wilde lupes, as Seint Gregorie seið, ‘nichil corde fugacius.’
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 72. Ful light of lepes has thou bene.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1767. And for-þi, sonē, wole I make a leepe from hem [stories], and go wole I to þe empryse þat I first took.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron. (1807–8), IV. 653. Leaving the lord lieutenant for a while, we will give a little leape to actions of manhood against the enimie.
1592. Bacon, Observ. Libel, Wks. 1826, V. 412. One Barrow … made a leap from a vain and libertine youth, to a preciseness in the highest degree.
1661. Feltham, Resolves, II. xxviii. (ed. 8), 238. ’Tis justly matter of amazement, for a man in the leap of the one, or in the tumble of either of these, to retain a mind unaltered.
1701. Swift, Contests Nobles & Comm., iii. Miscell. (1711), 41. Thus in a very few Years the Commons proceeded so far as to wrest the Power of chusing a King intirely out of the Hands of the Nobles; which was so great a Leap … that [etc.].
1856. Grindon, Life, i. (1875), 7. The leap of the stamens of the Kalmia from their niches in the corolla.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xi. 289. The boulders and débris … came in frequent leaps and rushes down the precipice.
1875. Dowden, Skakspere, 86. The energy, the leap-up, the direct advance of the will of Helena.
1885. Fairbairn, Catholicism, 89. Every attempt … to discover method and progress in creation, without leap or gap, violence or interference … was [etc.].
c. Phrases. A leap in the dark: a hazardous action undertaken in uncertainty as to the consequences. By leaps, by leaps and bounds: by sudden transitions; used esp. to express startling rapidity of advance or increase.
1698. Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, V. vi. Go, now I am in for Hobbe’s Voyage: a great Leap in the Dark.
1721. De Foe, Moll Flanders (1840), 75. Make matrimony, like death, a leap in the dark.
1851. Nichol, Archit. Heav., 154. The telescope, in passing through it [the Milky Way], often goes by leaps from one cumulus to another.
1867. Earl Derby, in Hansard, Parl. Deb., Ser. III. CLXXXIX. 952. No doubt we are making a great experiment, and ‘taking a leap in the dark.’
1885. Illustr. Lond. News, 8 Aug., 143/2. Electricity has been advanced ‘by leaps and bounds.’
2. A leaping-place; something to be leaped over or from. Also, the place or distance leaped.
Frequent in place-names, as Deerleap, Hindlip, Smuggler’s Leap, Lover’s Leap.
c. 1205. Lay., 1928. Nu … haueð þat clif þare nome on ælche leode þat þæt weos Geomagoges lupe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.) xiii. 56. Halfe a myle fra Nazareth es þe leep þat oure Lord leped fra þe Iews.
1539. Dere leapes [see DEER 4 b].
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. i. 139. You take a Precepit for no leape of danger, And woe your owne destruction.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, lvii. 57. After they have carry’d their Riders sale over All Leaps.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 223, ¶ 4. This Place was therefore called The Lover’s Leap.
1791. ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem., vi. (1809), 90. The soil is pretty stiff, the leaps large and frequent.
1818. J. Lawrence, Brit. Field Sports, 410. He ran his Horse at a Leap, which every one else in the Field refused.
b. Salmon leap, a precipitous fall in a river (either natural or contrived artificially) over which salmon leap in ascending the river for breeding.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 369. In Irlond beeþ þre samoun lepes.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 220. They [salmon] are taken at leapes.
3. of animals: The action of leaping (the female).
1607. Markham, Caval., I. (1617), 38. [They] being desirous to get into good races, are fayne to get leapes for their Mares, either by courtesie, bribes, or stealth.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VI. 36. The rushing leap, the doubtful progeny.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4428/16. A Dapple Grey Horse … to be had for a Guinea a Leap.
transf. 1616. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, III. iii. (1631), 124. Meercraft … could you ha’ … Beene satisfied with a leape o’ your Host’s daughter.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, IV. ii. I well know him For a most insatiate drabber. He hath given, Before he spent his own estate … A hundred pound a leap.
4. The sudden fall of a river to a lower level.
1796. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XVII. 611. Where the Esk … forms a linn or leap.
1809. A. Henry, Trav., 16. The Sault de Saint-Louis … is highest of the saults, falls, or leaps, in this part of the Saint-Lawrence.
1843. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. V. iii. § 22. The quiet stream is a succession of leaps and pools.
1872. Jenkinson, Guide Eng. Lakes (ed. 6), 286. The water makes five or six leaps in its descent.
† 5. An alleged name for a ‘company’ of leopards. Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vj b. A Lepe of Lebardis.
6. Mining. A fault or dislocation of strata. A leap up or leap down, one caused by upheaval or sinking of the strata.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., Leap … is when the Vein is thrown of from its perpendicular Course, at once into the Side; these Leaps never happen, but at some Wayboard, or large Bed-joynt.
1855. Cornwall, 109. Vertical Intersections.—These are commonly called leaps, or throws.
1874. J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, Gloss. s.v. Fault. If [the displacement of strata is] upwards, a leap or upthrow; if downwards, a slide or downthrow.
7. Mus. A passing from one note to another by an interval greater than a degree of the scale.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. xi. 45. By the taking of the greater Sixth that falls by a leap.
1811. Busby, Dict. Mus. (ed. 3), Leaps, this word is properly applicable to any disjunct degree, but is generally used to signify a distance consisting of several intermediate intervals.
1889. E. Prout, Harmony (ed. 10), vi. § 164. A second inversion may be approached either by leap … or by step … from the root position of another chord.
8. Comb.: leap-Christian (see quot.); † leap-month, February of leap year; leap-ore, ‘the most inferior quality of tin ore’ (Cent. Dict.); leap pease, ? parched-peas; † leap-skip a. (nonce-wd.), applied to the knight’s move in chess; † leap-staff, a leaping-pole. Also LEAP DAY, LEAP YEAR.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Ep. & Rev., App. 684. *Leap-Christians are not so much to be liked, that all on the sudden, of notorious profane become extremely precise and scrupulous.
1566. Painter, Pal. Pleas., IV. 36. The *leape moneth, which is February.
1648–60. Hexham, Dutch Dict., De Schrickelmoendt, the Leape-month.
1620. Markham, Farew. Husb. (1625), 137. The field Pease … are onely for boyling and making of *leape Pease, or parching.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Fam. Ep., Wks. (1711), 146. The lady … is … inhibited from the *leap-skip bound of the knights.
c. 1626. Dick of Devon., IV. iii. in Bullen, O. Pl., II. 78. One with a *leape staffe may leape over it.
