# leaf

Pronunciation: US say "LEEF" /liːf/; UK

## Noun

1. The flat, usually green part of a plant that grows from a stem and makes food from sunlight; in botany, also the structures a leaf can turn into, such as tendrils or spines.
   - Simple: One of the flat green parts that grow on a plant's stems and branches.
   - _Each leaf captures sunlight to make food for the plant._
   - _The gardener swept fallen leaves from the path._
2. Any object or feature that resembles the leaf of a plant in shape.
   - Simple: Any thin, flat thing that looks like a plant's leaf.
   - _The baker cut pastry leaves from the leftover dough and laid them across the top of the pie._
   - _An ornamental leaf of wrought iron curled at the top of the garden gate._
3. A sheet in a book, magazine, or similar item, carrying one page on each of its two sides.
   - Simple: One sheet of paper in a book, with a page on each side.
   - _A blank leaf at the front of the book was reserved for the dedication._
   - _Two leaves were missing from the rare manuscript._
4. The dried foliage of the tea plant, used for brewing tea.
   - Simple: Dried leaves or bits of leaves from the tea plant, used to make tea.
   - _Good green tea is made from whole leaf, not the fine dust you find in cheap tea bags._
   - _Fine black leaves unfurled as the hot water hit them._
5. A sheet of any substance beaten or rolled until it is extremely thin.
   - Simple: A very thin sheet of metal or other material, made by beating or rolling it flat.
   - _The artisan laid a single leaf of beaten gold across the icon's halo._
   - _Thin leaves of copper were burnished onto the wooden panel._
7. A flat section that extends the surface of a table, either fitted into it or raised on hinges.
   - Simple: A flat piece you add to a table, or fold up on hinges, to make it bigger.
   - _When guests arrived, she slid an extra leaf into the table._
   - _The antique table came with three matching leaves._
8. Cannabis, the plant used as a recreational or medicinal drug. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Marijuana, the dried cannabis plant used as a drug.
   - _The dealer sold mostly leaf and a little hash._
   - _She rolled the leaf into a joint and lit it._
9. One of the individual flat or curved strips of metal, usually spring steel, that together make up a leaf spring.
   - Simple: One of the flat, curved metal strips that stack together to form a spring in a vehicle.
   - _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._
11. A moveable panel, such as of a door or bridge, originally hinged but now applied to sliding and folding sections as well.
   - Simple: A flat part of a door or gate that swings or slides to open.
   - _The drawbridge raised both leaves to let the tall ship pass._
   - _A single leaf of the double door swung open silently._
12. In a tree structure, a node that has no descendants below it.
   - Simple: In a tree-shaped diagram, a point that has nothing branching out below 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._
14. The layer of fat surrounding a pig's kidneys, known as leaf fat and prized for rendering into lard.
   - Simple: The layer of fat around a pig's kidneys, used to make 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. A humorous and often derogatory online nickname for a Canadian person. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A joking, often insulting nickname for a Canadian, used online.
   - _Every leaf in the thread insisted their healthcare was free._
   - _The leafs flooded the comments defending poutine._
16. In a clock or similar mechanism, one tooth of a pinion, especially a small one.
   - Simple: One of the small teeth on a gear wheel called a pinion.
   - _One bent leaf on the pinion threw the whole mechanism out of time._
   - _The pinion had eight leaves, each meshing with the larger wheel._

## Verb

6. To flip through the pages of a book, magazine, or papers rapidly or idly, looking at bits as one goes, usually with "through".
   - Simple: To turn the pages of a book, magazine, or papers quickly, looking at bits here and there, 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._
10. To put out leaves or new foliage, as a plant does in spring.
   - Simple: To grow new leaves.
   - _Oaks leaf later than most other trees in the region._
   - _The vine began leafing as soon as the frost passed._
13. To separate a vegetable into its individual leaves.
   - Simple: To pull a vegetable apart into its separate 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._

## Other meanings

- (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.
- (verb) To prank a person by throwing a large clump or pile of leaves at them.

## Origin

From Middle English leef, from Old English lēaf, from Proto-Germanic *laubą (leaf), possibly from an Indo-European root meaning 'to cut off'. Dutch loof, German Laub and Swedish löv are related, and more distantly Latin liber (bast, book).

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