Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LEAP, v.i. [Sax. hleapan, Goth. hlaupan, to leap; G. laufen; D. loopen, Sw. löpa, Dan. löber, to run, to pass rapidly, to flow, slip or glide; W. llwf, a leap. From these significations, it may be inferred that this word belongs to the family of L. labor, perhaps Heb. Ch. Syr. Sam. Eth. תלף. Class Lb, No. 30. Qu. L. lupus, a wolf, the leaper.]

1. To spring or rise from the ground with 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.
2. To spring or move suddenly; as, to leap from a horse.
3. To rush with violence. And the men in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them and overcame them. – Acts xix.
4. To spring; to bound to skip; as, to leap for joy.
5. To fly; to start. – Job ii. He parted frowning from me, as if ruin / Leaped from his eyes. – Shak. [Our common people retain the Saxon aspirate of this word in the phrase, to clip it, to run fast.]