leave

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   permission to do something

   I was granted leave to speak.

2. 2
   noun

   the period of time during which you are absent from work or duty

   I asked for a ten day's leave to visit my family.

3. 3
   verb

   leave unchanged or undisturbed or refrain from taking

   leave it as is

4. 4
   verb

   go away from a place

   At what time does your train leave?

5. 5
   verb

   move out of or depart from

   leave the room

6. 6
   verb

   remove oneself from an association with or participation in

   They want to leave.

7. 7
   verb

   To have a consequence or remnant.

   I left my car at home and took a bus to work.

8. 8
   verb

   To depart; to separate from.

   I left the country and I left my wife.

Etymology

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…