Old Englishlǣfan, from Proto-Germanic. Cognate to Old Norse leifa(“‘leave over’”) (whence Danish blive and Old Norse lifna(“‘to be left’”) > Danish levne), German bleiben.
Verb[]
Infinitive to Leave
Third person singular
leaves
Simple past
left
Past participle
-
Present participle
leaving
to Leave (third-person singular simple presentleaves, present participleleaving, simple past and past participle left)
(transitive) To cause or allow (something) to remain as available; to refrain from taking (something) away; to stop short of consuming or otherwise depleting (something) entirely.
I left my car at home and took a bus to work.
The ants did not leave so much as a crumb of bread.
There's not much food left, we'd better go to the shops.
(transitive) To transferpossession of after death.
When my father died, he left me the house.
(transitive) To give (something) to someone; to deliver (something) to a repository; to deposit.
I'll leave the car in the station so you can pick it up there.
(transitive) To transfer responsibility or attention of (something) (to someone); to stop being concerned with.
Can't we just leave this to the experts?
(transitive) To depart from; to end one's connection or affiliation with.
I left the country and I left my wife.
(transitive) To end one's membership in (a group); to terminate one's affiliation with (an organization); to stop participating in (a project).
I left the band.
(intransitive) To depart; to go away from a certain place or state.
I think you'd better leave.
(intransitive,obsolete) To remain (behind); to stay.
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:
And by myssefortune Sir Bors smote Sir Launcelot thorow the shylde into the syde, and the speare brake and the hede leffte stylle in the syde.
Synonyms[]
(to end one's connection with):depart, forget, leave behind
Derived terms[]
Terms derived from the verb "leave"
beleave
forleave
leave behind
leave for dead
leave hanging
leave somebody high and dry
leave holding the bag
leave no stone unturned
leave off
leave out
leave in the lurch
leave well enough alone
not leave one's thought
up and leave
Translations[]
To cause to remain as available, not take away, refrain from depleting
American Sign Language: 5@SideChesthigh-PalmAcross-5@SideChesthigh-PalmAcross 5@SideTrunkhigh-5@SideTrunkhigh
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.