jump

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To push yourself off the ground and into the air using your legs.

   The boy jumped over the low fence.

2. 2
   verb

   To rise or increase suddenly by a large amount.

   Prices jumped overnight after the announcement.

3. 3
   noun

   An act of pushing yourself off the ground into the air.

   With one huge jump, she cleared the puddle.

4. 4
   noun

   A sudden, large increase.

   There was a sharp jump in attendance this year.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Jump first appeared around 1500 and was probably formed through sound symbolism, suggesting the sound of feet striking the ground. Jumper as a name for a garment is unrelated and may come from Scots jupe, “loose jacket or tunic,” ultimately through French from Arabic jubba.

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. Cognates 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”) Dani…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary