to leaf
17
6.5
- verb
- /liːf/
:
hojear
- I spent the afternoon leafing through old photo albums, reminiscing about my childhood.
- leaf through the pages
- leaf through a book
- leaf through stories
Examples
-
As she reminisces, she leafs through photographs, tinted brown or faded with age.
Academic text (1999) -
McLeod picked up the sketch pad and leafed through the drawings again.
Fiction book (1991) -
'I opened the book, leafed through, 'and sat down as my eye was caught by her name.
-
"Romanian?" He took the stack of letters from me and began to leaf through them.
Fiction book (1992) -
Then she sat down on the couch and leafed through the book.
Fiction book (1993) -
Jackie sat stolidly in the lobby that afternoon, leafing through tourist brochures in search of possible shooting sites.
Fiction book (1993) -
Sayer and Miss Costello are leafing through them. Sayer considers one's original admission forms.
Fiction book (1990) -
Jurina picks up the story as he leafs through bulging files of press cuttings covering the dig.
Academic text (2005) -
While waiting for his appointment, he leafed through a magazine that was lying on the table.
-
She leafed through the pages of the book quickly, searching for the section on gardening tips.
Synonyms
354
1.8
To turn or toss something quickly with a light hand movement
12
5.8
To turn the pages of a book quickly while only looking a little
9
2.8
To look quickly through the pages of a book or magazine
6
2.7
To look through a book or magazine quickly
2
6.5
To turn pages quickly or move thin things with a light quick motion
1
2.7
Read something quickly without looking at details
1
3.8
To read quickly without looking at details
1
5.1
Read parts of a book or magazine rather than all of it
Idioms
Compounds
1
2.7
An herb with flat broad leaves that people use in cooking for its strong flavor
- Specialized
1
8.7
A soft, good quality pig fat from around the kidneys that people use in baking
1
3.2
A small leaf used in South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking to add a strong smell and taste
- UK
A small herb with round yellow flowers and a strong smell that people use to flavor food or tea
- Specialized
A large western North American tree with very big leaves that have five parts and turn orange in autumn
- Australian
A small upright shrub from Australia and Tasmania with fragrant white flowers
- Specialized
A leaf with each main leaflet divided into smaller leaflets, like on ferns
A small pine tree from California that has single needles and cones with edible seeds
- Specialized
A flat plant part divided into several small leaflets joined to one stalk
- Specialized
A water plant with long curly leaves that grow under water in ponds and lakes
- Specialized
A leaf shaped like a long oval that is widest in the middle and narrows equally to each end
- Specialized
A leaf with leaflets along a central stalk that ends with a pair at the tip
- Specialized
A leaf with pairs of leaflets along a central stem and no single leaflet at the tip
A small yellow insect with four black stripes on its back that feeds on plants
- Specialized
A long narrow leaf that is widest in the middle and pointed at both ends
A small brightly colored beetle that eats plant leaves and whose young damage roots and stems
A vegetable with large green leaves and thick stalks that people grow for its edible stems and leaves
A large insect that feeds on plant juices and has leaf-shaped parts on its back legs
- Specialized
A small moth whose caterpillars roll leaves and tie them with silk to make a nest
- Specialized
Leaves with brown edges that look burned from heat, drought or poor watering
How Fast
Surface Forms
Etymology
Leaf as a verb (to 'leaf through') comes from pages being like 'leaves' of a book, so to leaf through is to turn those flat pieces quickly. In other words, to leaf through a book is to move the pages fast without reading every word.