jump

The act of jumping; a leap; a spring; a bound.

Adjective

  1. Exact; matched; fitting; precise.
    • jump names - 1640, Ben Jonson, An Execration Upon Vulcan:
    • Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, / With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares...

Origin

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”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

Forms

more jump most jump

Adverb

  1. Exactly; precisely
    • Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. - c. 1599–1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 1, lines 64–65:

Synonyms

accurately just slap bang

Noun Entry 3

  1. The act of jumping; a leap; a spring; a bound.
    • To advance by jumps. - a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:
  2. An effort; an attempt; a venture.
    • Our fortune lies / Upon this jump. - c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
  3. A dislocation in a stratum; a fault.
  4. An abrupt interruption of level in a piece of brickwork or masonry.
  5. An instance of propelling oneself upwards.
    • The boy took a skip and a jump down the lane.
  6. An object which causes one to jump; a ramp.
    • The skier flew off the jump and landed perfectly.
  7. An instance of causing oneself to fall from an elevated location.
    • There were a couple of jumps from the bridge.
  8. An instance of employing a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
    • She was terrified before the jump, but was thrilled to be skydiving.
  9. An instance of reacting to a sudden stimulus by jerking the body.
  10. A jumping move in a board game.
    • the knight's jump in chess
  11. A button (of a joypad, joystick or similar device) used to make a video game character jump (propel itself upwards).
    • Press jump to start.
  12. An obstacle that forms part of a showjumping course, and that the horse has to jump over cleanly.
    • Heartless managed the scale the first jump but fell over the second.

Forms

jumps

Synonyms

leap flinch jerk twitch

Derived

after the jump backjump barrel jump BASE jump broad jump buffalo jump bungee jump bungy jump Chinese jump rope double jump frog jump jump street the jump get a jump on high jump hippy jump hop, skip, and jump hop, step and jump hydraulic jump hyperjump in two jumps JMP jump ball jump blues

Noun Entry 4

  1. A kind of loose jacket for men.

Origin

Compare French jupe (“a long petticoat, a skirt”) and English jupon.

Forms

jumps

Related

jumper jumps

Verb

  1. To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
    • The boy jumped over a fence.
    • Kangaroos are known for their ability to jump high.
    • Not the worst of the three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the square. - c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
  2. To cause oneself to leave an elevated location and fall downward.
    • She is going to jump from the diving board.
  3. To pass by means of a spring or leap; to overleap.
    • to jump a stream
  4. To employ a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
  5. To jerk the body involuntarily in response to a sudden or unexpected stimulus.
    • That balloon popping made me jump.
    • He jumped when he looked up to see a man standing before him.
  6. To increase sharply, to rise, to shoot up.
    • Share prices jumped by 10% after the company announced record profits.
  7. To employ a move in certain board games where one game piece is moved from one legal position to another passing over the position of another piece.
    • The player's knight jumped the opponent's bishop.
  8. To move to a position (in a queue/line) that is further forward.
    • I hate it when people jump the queue.
  9. To pass (a traffic light) when it is indicating that one should stop.
  10. To attack suddenly and violently.
    • The hoodlum jumped a woman in the alley.

    Coordinate Terms: ambush waylay

  11. To engage in sexual intercourse with (a person).
    • Harold: How is Sarah? I don't want to jump her while she's on the rag. - 1983, The Big Chill:
  12. To cause to jump.
    • The rider jumped the horse over the fence.

Forms

jumps jumping jumped no-table-tags glossary jump jumpest jumpedst jumpeth -

Synonyms

leap spring jump down jump off skydive flinch jump out of one's skin leap out of one's skin twitch start startle reflex skip ambush assail hump jump someone's bones beat it rabbit take off

Derived

ask how high when someone says jump bump and jump go jump in the lake go jump off a bridge go jump off a building go jump off a cliff Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me Johnny-jump-up jumpable jump about jump a claim jump all over jump and dump jump and run jump around jump at jumpathon jump at one's own shadow jump at the chance jump at the opportunity jump bail jump before one is pushed jump claims jump cushion