Jumped a long distance or high into the air with a single movement; or suddenly moved or changed quickly.
From Old English 'hlēapan' (to jump), from Proto-Germanic roots. Both 'leapt' and 'leaped' are valid past tenses, with 'leapt' being more common in British English.
English gives us two past tenses—'leaped' and 'leapt'—and this variation reveals how English speakers often create '-t' endings from '-ed' endings over centuries. 'Burnt/burned,' 'learnt/learned,' 'spelt/spelled' show the same pattern of older '-t' forms surviving alongside newer '-ed' regularizations.
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