jump

Etymology 1

From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gempaną, *gembaną (“to hop, skip, jump”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰemb- (“to spring, hop, jump”). The OED instead suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. Cognates Cognate with Middle Dutch gumpen (“to jump”), Low German jumpen (“to jump”), Middle High German gumpen, gampen (“to jump, hop”) (dialectal German gampen, Alemannic German gumpe, Walser dialect kumpu), Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
   The boy jumped over a fence.
   Kangaroos are known for their ability to jump high.
2. (intransitive) To cause oneself to leave an elevated location and fall downward.
   She is going to jump from the diving board.
3. (transitive) To pass by a spring or leap; to overleap.
   to jump a stream
4. (intransitive) To employ a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
5. (intransitive) To react to a sudden, often unexpected, stimulus (such as a sharp prick or a loud sound) by jerking the body violently.
   The sudden sharp sound made me jump.
6. (intransitive, figurative) To increase sharply, to rise, to shoot up.
   Share prices jumped by 10% after the company announced record profits.
7. (intransitive) To employ a move in certain board games where one game piece is moved from one legal position to another passing over the position of another piece.
   The player's knight jumped the opponent's bishop.
8. (transitive) To move to a position (in a queue/line) that is further forward.
   I hate it when people jump the queue.
9. (transitive) To attack suddenly and violently.
   The hoodlum jumped a woman in the alley.
10. (transitive, slang) To engage in sexual intercourse with (a person).
    Harold: How is Sarah? I don't want to jump her while she's on the rag. 1983, The Big Chill
11. (transitive) To cause to jump.
    The rider jumped the horse over the fence.
12. (transitive) To move the distance between two opposing subjects.
13. (transitive) To increase the height of a tower crane by inserting a section at the base of the tower and jacking up everything above it.
14. (cycling, intransitive) To increase speed aggressively and without warning.
15. (transitive, obsolete) To expose to danger; to risk; to hazard.
16. (transitive, smithwork) To join by a buttweld.
17. To thicken or enlarge by endwise blows; to upset.
18. (quarrying) To bore with a jumper.
19. To jump-start a car or other vehicle with a dead battery, as with jumper cables.
    [Someone] and Mr. Benfield were at the corner of Elm and Walton Streets when they were approached by Mr. Gray, who asked for help to jump his car. When informed they did not have jumper cables, Mr. Gray asked them to take him to get some. 2000, United States. Employees' Compensation Appeals Board, Decisions of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board: Index digest, page 511
    […] his wife, who was at home with their children, would drive to school to jump his car; both would drive home;[…] 2015-01-30, Robert M. Morgan, Janet Turner Parish, George Deitz, Handbook on Research in Relationship Marketing, Edward Elgar Publishing, page 250
20. (obsolete) To coincide; to agree; to accord; to tally; followed by with.
    It jumps with my humour. a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, act I, scene ii
21. (intransitive, programming) To start executing code from a different location, rather than following the program counter.
    When this section is completed, the code generally jumps back to the Exit Section, and the procedure is closed. 2008, Garry Robinson, Real World Microsoft Access Database Protection and Security
22. (intransitive, slang, archaic) To flee; to make one's escape.
    “It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!” Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League

noun

1. The act of jumping; a leap; a spring; a bound.
2. An effort; an attempt; a venture.
3. (mining) A dislocation in a stratum; a fault.
4. (architecture) An abrupt interruption of level in a piece of brickwork or masonry.
5. An instance of propelling oneself upwards.
   The boy took a skip and a jump down the lane.
6. An object which causes one to jump; a ramp.
   The skier flew off the jump and landed perfectly.
7. An instance of causing oneself to fall from an elevated location.
   There were a couple of jumps from the bridge.
8. An instance of employing a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
   She was terrified before the jump, but was thrilled to be skydiving.
9. An instance of reacting to a sudden stimulus by jerking the body.
10. A jumping move in a board game.
    the knight's jump in chess
11. A button (of a joypad, joystick or similar device) used to make a video game character jump (propel itself upwards).
    Press jump to start.
12. (sports, equestrianism) An obstacle that forms part of a showjumping course, and that the horse has to jump over cleanly.
    Heartless managed the scale the first jump but fell over the second.
13. (with on) An early start or an advantage.
    He got a jump on the day because he had laid out everything the night before.
    Their research department gave them the jump on the competition.
14. (mathematics) A discontinuity in the graph of a function, where the function is continuous in a punctured interval of the discontinuity.
15. (physics, hydrodynamics) An abrupt increase in the height of the surface of a flowing liquid at the location where the flow transitions from supercritical to subcritical, involving an abrupt reduction in flow speed and increase in turbulence.
16. (science fiction) An instance of faster-than-light travel, not observable from ordinary space.
17. (programming) A change of the path of execution to a different location.
18. (US, informal, automotive) Short for jump-start.
    My car won't start. Could you give me a jump?
19. (film) Clipping of jump cut.
20. (theater) Synonym of one-night stand (“single evening's performance”)
    Next jump will be at the Chicago Theater, Chicago. 23 December 1950, Billboard, page 36

adv

1. (obsolete) Exactly; precisely
   Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. c. 1599–1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 1, lines 64–65

adj

1. (obsolete) Exact; matched; fitting; precise.
   jump names 1640, Ben Jonson, An Execration Upon Vulcan

Etymology 2

Compare French jupe (“a long petticoat, a skirt”) and English jupon.

noun

1. A kind of loose jacket for men.