jump
/d͡ʒʌmp/ verb, noun, adverb, adjective, proper noun
Forms jumps jumping jumped jumpest jumpedst jumpeth
- verb (intransitive) To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne. “The boy jumped over a fence.”
- verb (intransitive) To cause oneself to leave an elevated location and fall downward. “She is going to jump from the diving board.”
- verb (transitive) To pass by means of a spring or leap; to overleap. “to jump a stream”
- verb (intransitive) To employ a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
- verb (intransitive) To jerk the body involuntarily in response to a sudden or unexpected stimulus. “That balloon popping made me jump.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive, hunting, of a deer, etc.) To drop sharply downward at the sound of a bowstring release or the fire of a gun. “The deer jumped the string, so the archer missed his target.”
- verb (intransitive, figuratively) To increase sharply, to rise, to shoot up. “Share prices jumped by 10% after the company announced record profits.”
- verb (intransitive) To employ a move in certain board games where one game piece is moved from one legal position to another passing over the position of another piece. “The player's knight jumped the opponent's bishop.”
- noun The act of jumping; a leap; a spring; a bound.
- noun An effort; an attempt; a venture.
- noun (mining) A dislocation in a stratum; a fault.
- noun (architecture) An abrupt interruption of level in a piece of brickwork or masonry.
- noun An instance of propelling oneself upwards. “The boy took a skip and a jump down the lane.”
- noun An object which causes one to jump; a ramp. “The skier flew off the jump and landed perfectly.”
- noun An instance of causing oneself to fall from an elevated location. “There were a couple of jumps from the bridge.”
- noun An instance of employing a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location. “She was terrified before the jump, but was thrilled to be skydiving.”
- adverb (obsolete) Exactly; precisely
- adjective (obsolete) Exact; matched; fitting; precise.
- noun A kind of loose jacket for men.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
leap spring jump down jump off skydive skip cut ambush hump beat it flinch jump out of one's skin leap out of one's skin twitch start startle reflex assail jump someone's bones rabbit take off saltation startle parachuting jumping bound leap out jump out stand out stick out rise
Etymology
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely.
Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).
Compare French jupe (“a long petticoat, a skirt”) and English jupon.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A bodice worn instead of stays by women in the 18th century.
- verb To spring free from the ground by the muscular action of the feet and legs; to project one's self through the air; to spring; to bound; to leap.
- verb To move as if by jumping; to bounce; to jolt. "The jumping chariots." Nahum iii. 2.
- verb To pass by a spring or leap; to overleap; as, to jump a stream.
Etymology [Cf. F. jupe a long petticoat, a skirt. Cf. Juppon.]
Etymology [Akin to OD. gumpen, dial. G. gumpen, jumpen.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “jump”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details