to leap out
3
3.1
- phrasal verb
- /liːp aʊt/
:
saltar
- "Oh, no!" cried Drew, leaping out of bed and scrambling for his jeans.
- leapt out of bed
- leap out of the car
- leapt out of her chair
Examples
-
The man leaps out, throwing back inside a smoke grenade, and locks the skylight.
Fiction book (1998) -
"Ah, hell," she groaned in disgust as she leaped out of bed.
Fiction book (2001) -
Every morning the alarm goes off at 6:30, and I leap out of bed.
-
Instead, she watched with fevered eyes as Smith leaped out the door.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hal sits for a moment and then leaps out and follows Max.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hundreds of people spontaneously leapt out of their seats and started dancing in the aisles.
Blog text (13) -
Before it had even reached shore, Andrew leaped out, Emil puffing to keep up.
Fiction book (1990) -
The cat was hiding behind the couch, waiting to leap out and surprise the unsuspecting dog.
-
As the door creaked open, she was ready to leap out and frighten her friend who had come to visit.
-
At the haunted house, the actor would leap out from the shadows to give visitors a scare.
Synonyms
217
1.0
To move or start suddenly because you are surprised
199
1.0
To jump quickly from one place to another or make something jump
115
1.9
Enter or appear suddenly with energy
54
4.1
To jump suddenly onto something to grab or attack it
21
3.3
To enter a room suddenly and interrupt people
20
2.9
To appear suddenly without warning
11
2.8
To get out of a vehicle or place quickly with a small jump
9
3.3
To run out quickly from a hiding place to surprise someone
5
5.4
Suddenly start to happen with a lot of energy
3
5.2
Go into a room or conversation suddenly and interrupt people
3
7.0
To come out of hiding into the open
2
3.4
Start suddenly and appear or happen quickly
1
6.4
To rush out suddenly from a safe place
Leave a place where you are hiding suddenly to attack or surprise someone
Antonyms
How Sudden
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to jump out suddenly from a hiding place' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'leap' (to jump) with 'out' (away from the interior). This motion verb + particle composition is a standard, cross-linguistic pattern and a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely infer the MWE meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Leap out comes from the picture of someone suddenly jumping out from a hiding place to startle you, like a friend shouting 'surprise!' from behind a door. That's why it means 'to jump out suddenly from a hiding place'.