Might As Well Jump: Words For Leap Year

Because it actually takes the Earth 365.25 days to orbit the sun, every fourth year we have to add a day to keep our calendars in line. Let the Leap Year be a reason to learn this list of different words for jumping. Hop to it!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bounce
    leap suddenly
    She bounced back by winning the 200 freestyle in the U.S. national championships in 1 minute, 56.97 seconds. Seattle Times (Jan 21, 2020)
  2. bound
    move forward by leaping
    He runs like Forrest Gump after he broke free of the leg braces, bounding away from the bullies in their beat-up trucks. Seattle Times (Jan 21, 2020)
    If you've ever heard the expression "by leaps and bounds" you already know they're synonyms. Rebound is another way to say "bounce back."
  3. buck
    jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched
    Democrats are demanding sworn testimony from Bolton and other key witnesses, and pressure is mounting on at least four Republicans to buck GOP leaders and form a bipartisan majority to force the issue. Fox News (Jan 27, 2020)
  4. caper
    a playful leap or hop
    The former GOP lawmaker was ashamed for some of his old colleagues who capered on the House floor to please the president. Salon (Dec 19, 2019)
    Capra is Latin for goat, so caper describes the way goats hop around playfully. Caper can also describe a criminal endeavor like a bank robbery, or the pickled unopened flower bud from a Mediterranean shrub.
  5. cavort
    play boisterously
    The early scenes of tiny Poonachi wandering in the field and cavorting with other goats are as soft as cashmere. Washington Post (Nov 25, 2019)
    Cavort has uncertain origins, but some similarity to cavallo, Italian for "horse," leads to speculation that it was coined to describe something similar to "horsing around."
  6. elevate
    raise from a lower to a higher position
    The 49ers built their dynastic era in the 1980s and 1990s with balletic offense, a passing game that elevated football to elegance. Washington Post (Jan 19, 2020)
  7. gambol
    play or run boisterously
    A short walk into the woods, and the voices of children gambolling in the play area fade away, replaced by the distinctive sights, sounds and smells of the forest. BBC (Aug 31, 2019)
    Gamba means "leg" in Italian and Spanish, which is the likely origin of gambol. As with cavort and caper, it describes the playful jumping of animals and often children.
  8. hurdle
    jump over a barrier or obstacle
    There will be nothing low key about U.S. hurdles races, though. Reuters (Jan 20, 2020)
    Hurdle is a Germanic word originally used to describe wicker frames used as temporary fencing for animals. At some point, bored farmers invented a contest involving jumping over them, and now it's an Olympic event. Hurdle is also a noun and a verb; it describes the obstacle as well as the act of leaping over it.
  9. leap
    move forward by bounds
    With a win today, Garoppolo takes another leap towards the top of the next generation quarterback class. The Guardian (Jan 19, 2020)
    Like hurdle, leap can be both a verb and a noun.
  10. pounce
    move down on as if in an attack
    Villanova missed its first five 3s and 10 of 11 shots overall, but Butler couldn’t do much offensively to pounce on the scoring drought. Washington Times (Jan 21, 2020)
  11. prance
    spring forward on the hind legs
    For the “Walk a Mile” challenge, users attempted to wear household objects – loaves of bread, pencils, chairs – as shoes while prancing around their houses. The Guardian (Dec 25, 2019)
    Of unknown origin, prance is another synonym for caper and gambol.
  12. skitter
    move or skip quickly across a surface
    I started skittering round and trying to search the room. The Witches
  13. surmount
    get on top of; deal with successfully
    Originally, it featured a scalloped half dome surmounting a facade of niches, full of carvings and paintings, arrayed in horizontal bands along two floors or levels. Washington Post (Dec 2, 2019)
    Surmount is less common than insurmountable, which is frequently used to describe an obstacle that can't be overcome or a problem that can't be solved. Surmonter means "to climb over" in French.
  14. upsurge
    a sudden or abrupt strong increase
    "You get an upsurge in meme production when people are particularly intense about their feelings about what's going on at the time," Richard says. BBC (Jan 9, 2020)
    A surge originally meant "a big wave" or "rough seas." An upsurge describes something that rises, but unlike the ocean, may not fall back down again any time soon.
  15. vault
    jump across or leap over, as an obstacle
    She led the American women to Olympic team gold at the 2016 Rio Games while claiming gold in the prestigious individual all-around, floor and vault, and taking bronze on the beam. Washington Post (Jan 20, 2020)
    Another noun and verb, vault describes both the act of jumping over something and the jump itself. It can also mean an arched masonry ceiling or a secure locked room where valuables are kept.
Created on Thu Nov 07 13:40:15 EST 2019 (updated Fri Feb 07 13:30:47 EST 2020)

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