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To spring clear of the ground, with the feet; to jump; to vault; as, a man leaps over a fence, or leaps upon a horse. Bacon. Leap in with me into this angry flood. Shak.

. Bissextile; a year containing 366 days; every fourth year which leaps over a day more than a common year, giving to February twenty-nine days. See Bissextile.

One who, or that which, leaps.

A play among boys, in which one stoops down and another leaps over him by placing his hands on the shoulders of the former.

A basketful. [Obs.]

from Leap, to jump. Leaping house, a brothel. [Obs.] Shak. -- Leaping pole, a pole used in some games of leaping. -- Leaping spider (Zoöl.), a jumping spider; one of the Saltigradæ.

By leaps.

See Landlouper.

To surpass in leaping.

To leap over or across; hence, to omit; to ignore. "Let me o'erleap that custom." Shak.

A leap of a horse, as between two pillars, or upon a straight line, so that when his four feet are in the air, he shows only the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out.

y species of amphipod Crustacea, of the family Orchestidæ, living on the sea beaches, and leaping like fleas. -- Beach grass (Bot.), a coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea), growing on the sandy shores of lakes and seas, which, by its interlaced running rootstocks, binds the sand together, and resists the encroachment…

A small, leaping Australian marsupial of the genus Bettongia; the jerboa kangaroo.

Leap year; every fourth year, in which a day is added to the month of February on account of the excess of the tropical year (365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 46 s.) above 365 days. But one day added every four years is equivalent to six hours each year, which is 11 m. 14 s. more than the excess of the real year. Hence, it is necessa…

t, the entire body or mass; entirely; all at once; completely; as, to carry away bodily. "Leapt bodily below." Lowell.

To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound; as, she bounced into the room. Out bounced the mastiff. Swift. Bounced off his arm+chair. Thackeray.

To move with a sudden spring or leap, or with a succession of springs or leaps; as the beast bounded from his den; the herd bounded across the plain. Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds. Pope. And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider. Byron.

To break the water, as by leaping out; -- said of a whale.

To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. Dryden.

To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said of a vicious horse or mule.