Leaf Definition
lēf
leafed, leafing, leafs, leaves
noun
Any of the flat, thin, expanded organs, usually green, growing laterally from the stem or twig of a plant: it usually consists of a broad blade, a petiole, or stalk, and stipules and is involved in the processes of photosynthesis and transpiration.
Webster's New World
A leaflike organ or structure.
American Heritage
In popular usage,
Webster's New World
Leaves collectively.
Choice tobacco leaf.
Webster's New World
The state or time of having or showing leaves.
Trees in full leaf.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
- quire
- foliage
- leafage
- folio
- lithophyll (fossil leaf). associatedwords: foliar
- indeciduous
- frondescence
- frondesce
- whorl
- verticil
- spire
- frondation
- foliation
- foliaceous
- fascicule
verb
leafed, leafing, leafs
To put forth or bear leaves.
Webster's New World
Turn the pages of.
Webster's New World
To turn the pages of a book, etc., esp. so as to glance quickly (through)
Webster's New World
idiom
take a leaf from (someone)
- To use (someone) as an example.
American Heritage
take a leaf from
- To use (someone) as an example.
American Heritage
in leaf
- having leaves grown; with foliage
Webster's New World
turn over a new leaf
- to make a new start
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Leaf
- take a leaf from (someone)
- take a leaf from
- in leaf
- turn over a new leaf
Origin of Leaf
-
From Middle English leef, from Old English lēaf, from Proto-Germanic *laubą (compare West Frisian leaf, Low German Loov, Dutch loof, German Laub, Danish løv), from Proto-Indo-European *leup- 'to peel, break off' (compare Irish luibh 'herb', Latin liber 'bast; book', Lithuanian lúoba 'bark', Albanian labë 'rind').
From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English lēaf
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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