different between cavort vs leap

English

Etymology

Originated in the United States in 1793, as cauvaut, applying to horses, probably from the colloquial intensifying prefix ca- + vault (“jump, leap”); later generalized. Early sources connect it to cavault, a term for a certain demeanor of horses.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k??v??t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k??v??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Verb

cavort (third-person singular simple present cavorts, present participle cavorting, simple past and past participle cavorted)

1. (originally intransitive, of horses) To prance, frolic, gambol.
2. (intransitive) To move about carelessly, playfully or boisterously.

   Synonyms: romp, frolic, prance, caper

Translations

See also

• horse around

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “cavort”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• “The Way We Live Now: 7-14-02: On Language; Cavort”, William Safire criticizes White House rhetorics who apparently use the word to mean consort, and discusses its possible origins.

Anagrams

• VORTAC

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?p, IPA^(key): /li?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Etymology 1

From Middle English lepen, from Old English hl?apan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupan?. Cognate with West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Danish løbe, Norwegian Bokmål løpe, from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).

Verb

leap (third-person singular simple present leaps, present participle leaping, simple past leaped or leapt or (archaic) lept or (archaic) lope, past participle leaped or leapt or (archaic) lopen)

1. (intransitive) To jump.
   • c. 1450, anonymous, Merlin

     It is grete nede a man to go bak to recouer the better his leep

   • 1600, anonymous, The wisdome of Doctor Dodypoll, act 4

     I, I defie thee: wert not thou next him when he leapt into the Riuer?

   • 1783, Hugh Blair, from the “Illiad” in Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, lecture 4, page 65

     Th’ infernal monarch rear’d his horrid head, Leapt from his throne, lest Neptune’s arm should lay His dark dominions open to the day.

   • 1999, Ai, Vice: New & Selected Poems, page 78

     It is better to leap into the void.

2. (transitive) To pass over by a leap or jump.

3. (archaic, transitive) To copulate with (a female beast)
4. (archaic, transitive) To copulate with (a human)

   • go leap her, and engender young devilings

5. (transitive) To cause to leap.

Usage notes

The choice between leapt and leaped is often generally a matter of regional differences: leapt is preferred in British English whereas leaped is somewhat more common in American English (although this is not to say that leapt is not used in American English, especially in areas with historical ties to England). According to research by John Algeo (British or American English?, Cambridge, 2006), leapt is used 80% of the time in UK and 32% in the US.

Synonyms

• (jump from one location to another): bound, hop, jump, spring
• (jump upwards): bound, hop, jump, spring

Derived terms

• beleap
• forthleap
• leaper
• outleap
• overleap
• upleap

Translations

Noun

leap (plural leaps)

1. The act of leaping or jumping.
   • 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics

     Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides.

2. The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
3. A group of leopards.
4. (figuratively) A significant move forward.
   • 1969 July 20, Neil Armstrong, as he became the first man to step on the moon

     That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.

5. (figuratively) A large step in reasoning, often one that is not justified by the facts.

   It's quite a leap to claim that those cloud formations are evidence of UFOs.

6. (mining) A fault.
7. Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.
   • 1865, British Farmer's Magazine (issue 48, page 8)

     Much difference of opinion exists as to the number of bullings a cow should receive. Here, I think, good judgment should be used. If the bull is cool and quiet, and some time has intervened since he had his last cow, one good leap is better than more […]

8. (music) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.
9. A salmon ladder.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

leap (not comparable)

1. (calendar) Intercalary, bissextile.

Etymology 2

From Middle English leep, from Old English l?ap (“basket”), from Proto-Germanic *laupaz (“container, basket”). Cognate with Icelandic laupur (“basket”).

Alternative forms

• leep

Noun

leap (plural leaps)

1. (obsolete) A basket.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)

2. A trap or snare for fish, made from twigs; a weely.
3. Half a bushel.

Anagrams

• Alep, Lape, Peal, e-pal, pale, pale-, peal, pela, plea