Definition of LEAF

leaf

Plural: leaves

Noun

  • A flattened, usually green, outgrowth from the stem of a plant.
  • the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants
  • a sheet of any written or printed material (especially in a manuscript or book)
  • hinged or detachable flat section (as of a table or door)
  • The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants.
  • A foliage leaf or any of the many and often considerably different structures it can specialise into.
  • Anything resembling the leaf of a plant.
  • A sheet of a book, magazine, etc. (consisting of two pages, one on each face of the leaf).
  • A sheet of any substance beaten or rolled until very thin.
  • One of the individual flat or curved strips of metal, typically made of spring steel, that make up a leaf spring.
  • Tea leaves.
  • A flat section used to extend the size of a table.
  • A moveable panel, e.g. of a bridge or door, originally one that hinged but now also applied to other forms of movement.
  • In a tree, a node that has no descendants.
  • The layer of fat supporting the kidneys of a pig, leaf fat.
  • One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.
  • Cannabis.
  • A Canadian person.
  • A particular value of the EAX register when a program runs the CPUID instruction; each leaf represents a different category of information returned about the processor.

Verb

Verb Forms: leafed, leafing, leafs

  • To turn pages rapidly, as in a book or magazine.
  • look through a book or other written material
    • "She leafed through the volume"
  • turn over pages
    • "leaf through a book"
    • "leaf a manuscript"
  • produce leaves, of plants
  • To produce leaves; put forth foliage.
  • To divide (a vegetable) into separate leaves.
  • To play a prank on someone by throwing a large clump or collection of leaves at them.

Examples

  • gold leaf
  • He found a spot for ’LEAF’ on the double-letter score, greening his points.
  • He started to LEAF through the dictionary, desperately searching for a valid word.
  • The lettuce in our burgers is 100% hand-leafed.
  • The train car has one single-leaf and two double-leaf doors per side.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English leef, from Old English lēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *laub, from Proto-Germanic *laubą (“leaf”), from Proto-Indo-European *lowbʰ-o-m, from *lewbʰ- (“leaf, rind”)
See also West Frisian leaf, Low German Loov, Dutch loof, German Laub, Danish løv, Swedish löv, Norwegian Nynorsk lauv, Icelandic lauf; also Irish luibh (“herb”), Latin liber (“bast; book”), Lithuanian lúoba (“bark”), Albanian labë (“rind”), Latvian luba (“plank, board”), Russian луб (lub, “bast”).
(Internet slang: Canadian): In reference to the maple leaf as national symbol.

Scrabble Score: 7

leaf: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
leaf: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
leaf: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

leaf: valid Words With Friends Word