# jump

Pronunciation: say "JUMP" /d͡ʒʌmp/

## Verb

1. To push oneself off the ground or another surface with the legs so as to move briefly through the air, whether upward, downward from a height, or over an obstacle.
   - Simple: To push yourself into the air with your legs, sometimes over something or down from a higher place.
   - _Athletes jump higher when they bend their knees deeply first._
   - _The cat jumped from the windowsill onto the top of the bookshelf._
3. To increase sharply or suddenly; to rise by a large amount in a short time.
   - Simple: To go up quickly and by a large amount.
   - _Unemployment jumped to nine percent during the recession._
   - _Streaming subscriptions jump whenever a hit series premieres._
4. To shift one's position or attitude abruptly and significantly, often without warning.
   - Simple: To change your opinion or side quickly and completely.
   - _Commentators jump from one side of the debate to the other as the polls shift._
   - _After the merger announcement, several analysts jumped to a far more positive outlook._
5. To jerk the body involuntarily in reaction to a sudden or unexpected stimulus, such as a loud sound or sharp touch.
   - Simple: To move your body suddenly because something surprises or scares you.
   - _Everyone jumped when the fire alarm went off in the quiet office._
   - _I still jump every time a balloon pops near me._
10. To start a vehicle whose battery is dead by connecting power from another battery, typically using jumper cables.
   - Simple: To start a car with a dead battery by connecting it to another battery with cables.
   - _He flagged down a driver willing to jump his dead battery._
   - _The tow service jumped the van in under five minutes._
7. To leave an aircraft or other elevated location and descend using a parachute.
   - Simple: To leave a plane or high place using a parachute.
   - _Paratroopers jump in tight sequence so the unit lands close together._
   - _After months of training, she finally jumped solo over the desert._
12. To move ahead of others in a line or waiting list instead of taking one's proper turn.
   - Simple: To move ahead of other people who are waiting before you.
   - _Several drivers jumped the line of cars waiting to merge._
   - _Wealthy donors should not be able to jump the transplant list._
8. To attack a person suddenly and violently, usually catching the victim off guard.
   - Simple: To attack someone suddenly when they are not expecting it.
   - _The gang jumped a rival member behind the warehouse._
   - _Muggers often jump people who walk alone after dark._
9. To move across the distance between two opposing points or sides.
   - Simple: To go across the space between two sides or things.
   - _The wildfire jumped the river overnight, forcing new evacuations._
   - _With enough voltage, electricity will jump the gap between two electrodes._
14. To go through a traffic signal that is showing red or otherwise telling drivers to stop.
   - Simple: To drive past a traffic light while it is red instead of stopping.
   - _A delivery van jumped the red light and nearly collided with a cyclist._
   - _Drivers who jump red lights face heavy fines and points on their licenses._
15. To cause a person, animal, or object to leap or spring.
   - Simple: To make a person, animal, or thing leap into the air.
   - _Handlers jump the dogs through hoops during the agility round._
   - _The stunt coordinator jumped the car over a row of barrels._
17. To engage in sexual intercourse with someone; coarse slang. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rough slang way of saying to have sex with someone.
   - _After weeks of flirting, all he could think about was jumping her bones._
   - _After three dates she still hadn't decided whether she wanted to jump him._
18. To make a move in certain board games in which a piece passes over another piece's position to reach a new legal square.
   - Simple: In some board games, to make a move where your piece goes over another piece.
   - _Kings in checkers can jump backward as well as forward._
   - _He jumped over my last checker and won the game._
23. To start executing code from a different location, rather than continuing with the next instruction in sequence.
   - Simple: To skip to a different part of a computer program instead of going step by step.
   - _When the loop finishes, execution jumps past the closing brace._
   - _Older BASIC programs jump to numbered lines using GOTO statements._
24. To accelerate abruptly and hard without warning, especially to break away from rivals in a race.
   - Simple: In bike racing, to speed up suddenly to get away from the other riders.
   - _The sprinter jumped with two hundred meters to go, and no one could follow._
   - _Riders who jump too early often fade before the finish line._

## Noun

2. An act of pushing oneself off the ground or another surface into the air, including a leap down from a height.
   - Simple: An act of pushing yourself into the air, or of leaping down from a higher place.
   - _The dancer's final jump drew gasps from the audience._
   - _Each jump across the rooftops in the movie was performed by a stuntman._
6. A structure such as a ramp, fence, or obstacle that a person, horse, or vehicle jumps over or launches from.
   - Simple: Something built to jump over or off, like a ramp or a fence.
   - _The snowboarders shaped a jump near the bottom of the run._
   - _Crews installed a forty-foot jump for the motocross finale._
11. An early start or a position of advantage gained by acting before others.
   - Simple: An early start that puts you ahead of others.
   - _Studying over the summer gave her a jump on the fall semester._
   - _The startup got the jump on larger rivals by shipping a year earlier._
13. A single descent from an aircraft or elevated point made using a parachute.
   - Simple: One time when someone leaves a plane or high place with a parachute.
   - _The veteran skydiver's two hundredth jump took place over the Arizona desert at dawn._
   - _Paratroopers complete several night jumps before earning their wings._
16. Short for jump-start: help starting a car with a dead battery, using cables connected to another battery. *(colloquial, US)* — Ellipsis of jump-start.
   - Simple: Short for jump-start. Use it when a dead car battery gets power from another car to start.
   - _The battery died overnight, and she had to get a jump before work._
   - _A tow truck driver gave us a jump in the parking garage._
19. A move in certain board games in which one piece passes over another.
   - Simple: A move in a board game where one piece goes over another piece.
   - _A single jump in checkers captures the piece that was passed over._
   - _The computer found a triple jump that ended the game._
20. An instance of jerking the body in reaction to a sudden stimulus.
   - Simple: A quick movement of your body when something suddenly scares or surprises you.
   - _He gave a visible jump when the fire alarm sounded._
   - _Her jump at the sudden thunderclap showed how tense she was._
21. A button on a game controller or keyboard used to make a video game character propel itself upward.
   - Simple: The button on a game controller that makes your character leap into the air.
   - _She remapped jump to the right trigger because her thumb kept slipping._
   - _Hold jump a little longer to make the character rise higher._
22. A change in the path of program execution to a different location in the code.
   - Simple: A skip from one part of a computer program to another part.
   - _The compiler replaced the function call with a direct jump._
   - _Too many jumps in the code make it difficult to follow._
25. Short for jump cut: an abrupt cut in film or video that makes the action seem to skip forward in time. — Clipping of jump cut.
   - Simple: Short for jump cut. A sudden skip between two shots in a film or video.
   - _Cutting out the pause left a jump right in the middle of the interview._
   - _The director used quick jumps to suggest the passage of time._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To make a tower crane taller by adding a new mast section near the bottom and raising the upper part of the crane on jacks.
- (verb) To put something in danger or at risk.
- (verb) To join two pieces of metal end to end with a butt weld.
- (verb) To make a metal bar thicker or wider by hammering it on the end.
- (verb) To drill a hole in rock using a jumper, a long steel drilling bar.
- (verb) To match or agree with something, used with "with".
- (verb) To run away or escape.
- (verb) Of a gene or DNA segment, to move to a new position on a chromosome, either the same one or another.
- (noun) An attempt or undertaking, especially one that carries some risk.
- (noun) A break in a layer of rock where one side has shifted against the other, also called a fault.
- (noun) A sudden step up or down in the level of a course of bricks or stones.
- (noun) A point where a function's graph breaks and resumes at a different height, though the function is continuous everywhere close around that point.
- (noun) A sudden step up in water level in a stream or channel where fast, shallow flow turns into slower, deeper flow with much turbulence.
- (noun) In science fiction, a trip at more than light speed that no one in normal space can see.
- (noun) A show performed for only one night in a place, as by a touring company.
- (adverb) In precisely the right way or at precisely the right point.
- (adjective) Agreeing perfectly or fitting just right.
- (noun) A loose-fitting short coat worn by men.

## Origin

Middle English jumpen meant "to walk quickly, run, jump." It was probably taken from Middle Low German or a North Germanic language, and it ultimately goes back to Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną, meaning "to hop, skip, bounce." It may also have begun as an imitative word, and jumble is related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/jump (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).