leaf

Less common meanings

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To flip through the pages of a book, magazine, or papers rapidly or idly, looking at bits as one goes, usually with "through".

   Customers often leaf through a novel's first few chapters before deciding to buy it.

   The lawyer leafed through the contract, stopping only at the sections on payment.

   UsageForms are regular: leafs, leafing, leafed; leaves belongs to the noun and to leave.

   Similarflip, thumb, flick, skim, browse

   Note

   The verb pairs with the sheet of a book: leafing through a book means turning its leaves. Thumb through and flip through are close synonyms; browse suggests more choosing and less hurry.

7. 7
   table extensionnouncountable or uncountable

   A flat section that extends the surface of a table, either fitted into it or raised on hinges.

   When guests arrived, she slid an extra leaf into the table.

   The antique table came with three matching leaves.

   Similarextension, insert

8. 8
   weed (drug)nounslanguncountable

   Cannabis, the plant used as a recreational or medicinal drug.

   The dealer sold mostly leaf and a little hash.

   She rolled the leaf into a joint and lit it.

   UsageNo a: some leaf, a bag of leaf. In formal writing, say cannabis.

   Similarweed, grass, pot, herb, marijuana

9. 9
   spring stripnouncountable or uncountable

   One of the individual flat or curved strips of metal, usually spring steel, that together make up a leaf spring.

   When the longest leaf fractured, the whole suspension sagged on one side.

   Adding an extra leaf to the stack increased the load the axle could carry.

10. 10
    grow foliageverbintransitive

    To put out leaves or new foliage, as a plant does in spring.

    Oaks leaf later than most other trees in the region.

    The vine began leafing as soon as the frost passed.

    UsageOften used with out (leaf out). Forms are regular (leafs, leafing, leafed).

    Similarsprout, bud

    Note

    The use is far from new. Thomas Keightley's The Fairy Mythology (1828) already has "then flowered the mead, then leafed all." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Thomas Keightley wrote The Fairy Mythology. gutenberg.org
    • The Fairy Mythology was first published in 1828. openlibrary.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in the 1828 edition, volume I, page 164. archive.org
11. 11
    door panelnouncountable or uncountable

    A moveable panel, such as of a door or bridge, originally hinged but now applied to sliding and folding sections as well.

    The drawbridge raised both leaves to let the tall ship pass.

    A single leaf of the double door swung open silently.

    UsagePlural leaves, though technical writing often has leafs: door leafs, bridge leafs.

    Similarpanel, wing

    Note

    In compounds the word counts panels: a single-leaf door has one, a double-leaf door two. The hinge was the original idea, but the term now covers panels that slide or lift, like the leaves of a bascule bridge rising over a channel. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The panel sense originally referred to a hinged panel. en.wiktionary.org
    • A single-leaf door has one panel, and a double-leaf door has two. americandoors.com
    • A bascule bridge's movable spans are called leaves and swing upward to provide clearance for boats. en.wikipedia.org
12. 12
    end nodenouncountable or uncountable

    In a tree structure, a node that has no descendants below it.

    Like the last stop on a train line, with no track beyond it.

    Deleting a leaf from a binary search tree is easy because it has no children.

    The algorithm visits every leaf before returning to the root node.

    Note

    Computer scientists draw their trees with the root at the top, but they keep the botany: a leaf is where a branch ends. Every node is either a leaf or an internal node with children below it. Many algorithms turn on that difference. In some stack-based traversals, reaching a leaf is the signal to pop the stack and go back for the next branch. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Computer-science trees conventionally have their root drawn at the top. xlinux.nist.gov
    • A leaf is a terminal node where a tree branch ends. xlinux.nist.gov
    • Every node is either a leaf or an internal node, and internal nodes have children. xlinux.nist.gov
    • The trigger depends on the traversal algorithm. In standard iterative preorder traversal, every visited node is popped, including internal nodes; reaching a leaf is not the general condition for popping. cs.cornell.edu
13. 13
    pull apartverbtransitive

    To separate a vegetable into its individual leaves.

    Leaf the romaine and soak the pieces in cold water.

    Before the lunch rush, the prep cook cored and leafed two crates of romaine.

    UsageKeeps the f in all forms: leafs, leafed, hand-leafed.

    Similarseparate

    Note

    Kitchen and food-trade language, seen most often in its participle. Lettuce advertised as hand-leafed has been pulled apart into separate leaves by hand. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Leafing a vegetable means separating it into individual leaves. en.wiktionary.org
    • Lettuce is advertised as hand-leafed. in-n-out.com
14. 14
    pig fatnouncountable or uncountable

    The layer of fat surrounding a pig's kidneys, known as leaf fat and prized for rendering into lard.

    The butcher saves the leaf from every hog he cuts, because local bakers pay extra for the lard it makes.

    Rendered slowly, the leaf yields a pale, mild lard.

15. 15
    Canadian (nickname)nounslangpejorativehumorouscountable or uncountable

    A humorous and often derogatory online nickname for a Canadian person.

    Every leaf in the thread insisted their healthcare was free.

    The leafs flooded the comments defending poutine.

    UsageThe plural is leafs: the leafs in the comments.

    SimilarCanuck

    Note

    Internet slang used on imageboards such as 4chan, alluding to the maple leaf on Canada's flag. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The nickname alludes to Canada's maple-leaf symbol. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    gear toothnouncountable or uncountable

    In a clock or similar mechanism, one tooth of a pinion, especially a small one.

    One bent leaf on the pinion threw the whole mechanism out of time.

    The pinion had eight leaves, each meshing with the larger wheel.

    Similartooth

17. 17
    noun

    A specific value loaded into the EAX register before running the CPUID instruction, where each value selects a different category of information returned about the processor.
18. 18
    verbcolloquial

    To prank a person by throwing a large clump or pile of leaves at them.