leave
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /liːv/
ipa: /liv/
rhymes: -iːv
Forms: form: leaves
form: leaving
form: left
form: left
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: leave
form: leave
form: left
form: leave
form: leavest
form: left
form: leftest
form: leaves
form: leaveth
form: left
form: leave
form: left
form: leave
form: left
form: leave
form: -
form: leaving
form: left
Etymology: From Middle English leven, from Old English lǣfan (“to leave”), from Proto-West Germanic *laibijan, from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to let stay, leave”), causative of *lībaną (“to stay, remain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick; fat”).
Cognate with Old Frisian lēva (“to leave”), Old Saxon lēvian, Old High German leiban (“to leave”), Old Norse leifa (“to leave over”) (whence Icelandic leifa (“to leave food uneaten”), Swedish leva (“to leave”)), lifna (“to be left”) (whence Danish levne). More at lave, belive.
The noun is attested since the 19th century, with earliest references to billiards.
Senses: examples: text: I left my car at home and took a bus to work.
text: The ants did not leave so much as a crumb of bread.
text: There's not much food left. We'd better go to the shops.
text: […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]. The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation,[…]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
ref: 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
glosses: To have a consequence or remnant.
To cause or allow (something) to remain as available; to refrain from taking (something) away; to stop short of consuming or otherwise depleting (something) entirely.
examples: text: The lightning left her dazzled for several minutes.
text: Infantile paralysis left him lame for the rest of his life.
text: She left disappointed.
text: There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up[…].”
ref: 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:
text: The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
ref: 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
glosses: To have a consequence or remnant.
To cause, to result in.
examples: text: Leave your hat in the hall.
text: We should leave the legal matters to lawyers.
text: I left my sewing and went to the window to watch the falling snow.
text: Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:24:
text: The foot / That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
glosses: To have a consequence or remnant.
To put; to place; to deposit; to deliver, with a sense of withdrawing oneself.
examples: text: I left him to his reflections.
text: I leave my hearers to judge.
text: I'll leave it to you to decide.
glosses: To depart; to separate from.
To let be or do without interference.
examples: text: I left the country and I left my wife.
text: I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: To depart; to separate from.
To depart from; to end one's connection or affiliation with.
examples: text: 2018, The Independent, "Brexit: Theresa May 'not bluffing' in threat to leave EU without a deal, Tory minister Liam Fox says"
If we were to leave, the economic impact on a number of European countries would be severe.
text: I left the band.
glosses: To depart; to separate from.
To end one's membership in (a group); to terminate one's affiliation with (an organization); to stop participating in (a project).
examples: text: The other evening Sheri called to tell me that Connie had left us, and that I will never again be able to hold my pot luck supper plate on my knee and listen to Connie's wonderful talk or see her slow, almost impish smile.
ref: 1982 February 13, Nancy Walker, “Connie”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 10:
glosses: To depart; to separate from.
To die (the object denotes those affected by the death).
examples: text: I think you'd better leave.
glosses: To depart; to separate from.
To depart; to go away from a certain place or state.
synonyms: absent
examples: text: When my father died, he left me the house.
glosses: To transfer something.
To transfer possession of after death.
examples: text: I'll leave the car in the station so you can pick it up there.
glosses: To transfer something.
To give (something) to someone; to deliver (something) to a repository; to deposit.
examples: text: Can't we just leave this to the experts?
glosses: To transfer something.
To transfer responsibility or attention of (something) (to someone); to stop being concerned with.
examples: text: And whanne sire launcelot sawe them fare soo / he gat a spere in his hand / and there encountred with hym al attones syr bors sir Ector and sire Lyonel / and alle they thre smote hym atte ones with their speres /[…]/ and by mysfortune sir bors smote syre launcelot thurgh the shelde in to the syde / and the spere brake / and the hede lefte stylle in his syde
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
text: Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To remain (behind); to stay.
examples: text: When he had leeft speakynge, he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe, and lett slippe thy nette to make a draught.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke:
text: I will learn to leave these fruitless tears …
ref: c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:
text: Now leave Complaining, and begin your Tea.
ref: 1716, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Basset-Table. An Eclogue.:
glosses: To stop, desist from; to "leave off" (+ noun / gerund).
Synonyms: sense: to end one's connection with
word: depart
sense: to end one's connection with
word: forget
sense: to end one's connection with
word: leave behind
word: beat it
word: bug off
word: remove
word: bugger off
word: book
word: bounce
word: buzz off
word: chuck
word: cut one's stick
word: dash
word: duck out
word: exit
word: get away
word: get out
word: go
word: go away
word: go out
word: GTFO
word: leave
word: make tracks
word: move on
word: namous
word: part
word: piss off
word: pull up stakes
word: put out
word: start
word: start out
word: set forth
word: set off
word: set out
word: run along
word: sling one's hook
word: split
word: take off
word: take leave
word: take one's leave
word: take wing
word: quit
Hyponyms: word: absquatulate
word: abandon
word: bug out
word: clear off
word: clear out
word: dash off
word: flee
word: flounce
word: slide off
word: slip away
word: slip off
word: steal away
word: up and leave
word: vacate
Derived terms: beleave
be left holding the baby
be left kicking
eat and leave no crumbs
forleave
I have to love you and leave you
I'll leave it up to you
leavable
leave alone
leave a lot to be desired
leave a mark
leave aside
leave a sour taste in one's mouth
leave at the door
leave be
leave behind
leavee
leave for dead
leave for dust
leave home
leave-in
leave it all on the field
leave it all out there
leave it alone
leave it at that
leave it be
leave it out
leave little to the imagination
leave me alone
leave much to be desired
leave no crumbs
leave no stone unturned
leave nothing in the tank
leave nothing to the imagination
leave no trace
leave off
leave on
leave-one-out
leave one's mark
leave one's options open
leave one's stamp
leave on the table
leave out
leave over
Leaver
leaver
leave someone at the altar
leave someone be
leave someone cold
leave someone hanging
leave someone high and dry
leave someone holding the baby
leave someone holding the bag
leave someone in the dust
leave someone in the lurch
leave someone no choice
leave someone on read
leave someone on seen
leave someone out in the cold
leave someone to their fate
leave someone to their own devices
leave something to be desired
leave the ball in someone's court
leave the chat
leave the door open
leave the nest
leave things alone
leave things be
leave to chance
leave to one's own devices
leave to the imagination
leave well alone
leave well enough alone
leave with the one that brought ya
leave with the one that brung ya
leave with the one that brung you
leave with the one what brought ya
leave with the one what brought you
leave with the one what brung ya
leave with the one what brung you
leave with the one who brought ya
leave with the one who brought you
leave with the one who brung ya
leave with the one who brung you
left in the lurch
left luggage
like it or leave it
make like a tree and leave
not leave a stone unturned
not leave one's thought
not leave one's thoughts
overleave
take it or leave it
that train has already left the station
that train has left the station
up and leave
who died and left you in charge