leave

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To go away from a place or person.

   What time does your train leave?

2. 2
   verb

   To let something stay where it is or how it is.

   Just leave it as it is.

3. 3
   verb

   To forget to take something with you.

   I left my umbrella on the bus.

4. 4
   noun

   A period of time you are allowed to be away from work.

   She took ten days' leave to visit her family.

5. 5
   noun

   Official permission to do something.

   I was granted leave to speak.

Common collocations

• leave a message Verb + noun
• leave the house Verb + noun
• leave the room Verb + noun
• leave the station Verb + noun
• sick leave Adjective + noun
• leave a club Verb + noun
• leave a husband Verb + noun
• leave a job Verb + noun
• leave a mess Verb + noun
• leave school Verb + noun
• leave town Verb + noun
• annual leave Adjective + noun

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 b…

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