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Leap vs Gambol - What's the difference?

leap | gambol | Synonyms |

In intransitive terms the difference between leap and gambol

is that leap is to jump while gambol is to move about playfully; to frolic.

leap

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) lepen, from (etyl) ‘to stumble’).

Verb

  • To jump.
  • * 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 , , 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.
  • To pass over by a leap or jump.
  • to leap a wall or a ditch
  • To copulate with (a female beast); to cover.
  • To cause to leap.
  • to leap a horse across a ditch
    Usage notes
    The choice between leapt and leaped is mostly a matter of regional differences: leapt is preferred in British English and leaped in American English. 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

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of leaping or jumping.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Wickedness comes on by degrees, and sudden leaps from one extreme to another are unnatural.
  • * H. Sweet
  • Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides.
  • The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
  • (figuratively) A significant move forward.
  • * 1969 July 20, , as he became the first man to step on the moon
  • That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.
  • (mining) A fault.
  • Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.
  • (music) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.
  • (obsolete) A basket.
  • (Wyclif)
  • A weel or wicker trap for fish.
  • (Webster 1913)
    Derived terms
    * by leaps and bounds * leap day * leapfrog * leaping lizards * leap of faith * leaps and bounds * leap second * leap year * look before you leap * quantum leap

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) leep, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * leep

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • basket
  • a trap or snare for fish
  • half a bushel
  • gambol

    English

    Verb

  • To move about playfully; to frolic.
  • * 1835 : (Harper)
  • The lawn spread freely onward, as of old, over which, in sweet company, he had once gambolled .
  • * 1907 : Paul Lafargue, The rights of the horse , page 160
  • […] she remains near him to suckle him and teach him to choose the delicious grasses of the meadow, in which he gambols until he is grown.
  • *
  • In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled round and round, they hurled themselves into great leaps of excitement.
  • *
  • * 1995 : Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age: or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer , page 286 (ISBN 0553380966)
  • Three girls moved across the billiard-table lawn of a great manor house, circling and swarming about a common center of gravity like gamboling sparrows.
  • (British, West Midlands) to do a forward roll
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • An instance of running or skipping about playfully.
  • * 1843 : , The Gold Bug , page 10
  • When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted.
  • An instance of more general frisking or frolicking.
  • *