jump.
To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
Meaning & usage
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.
To cause oneself to leave an elevated location and fall downward.
She is going to jump from the diving board.
To pass by means of a spring or leap; to overleap.
to jump a stream
To employ a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
To jerk the body involuntarily in response to a sudden or unexpected stimulus.
That balloon popping made me jump.
He jumped when he looked up to see a man standing before him.
To jerk the body involuntarily in response to a sudden or unexpected stimulus. To drop sharply downward at the sound of a bowstring release or the fire of a gun.
The deer jumped the string, so the archer missed his target.
The buck jumped at the shot of the rifle.
To increase sharply, to rise, to shoot up.
Share prices jumped by 10% after the company announced record profits.
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.
To move to a position (in a queue/line) that is further forward.
I hate it when people jump the queue.
To pass (a traffic light) when it is indicating that one should stop.
To attack suddenly and violently.
The hoodlum jumped a woman in the alley.
To engage in sexual intercourse with (a person).
To cause to jump.
The rider jumped the horse over the fence.
To move the distance between two opposing subjects.
To increase the height of a tower crane by inserting a section at the base of the tower and jacking up everything above it.
To increase speed aggressively and without warning.
To expose to danger; to risk; to hazard.
To join by a buttweld.
To thicken or enlarge by endwise blows; to upset.
To bore with a jumper.
To jump-start a car or other vehicle with a dead battery, as with jumper cables.
To coincide; to agree; to accord; to tally; followed by with.
To start executing code from a different location, rather than following the program counter.
To flee; to make one's escape.
To shift one's position or attitude, especially suddenly and significantly.
The administration is jumping back from that message.
Think hard before you jump towards a particular solution.
To switch locations on chromosomes.
To commit suicide.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).
The act of jumping; a leap; a spring; a bound.
An effort; an attempt; a venture.
A dislocation in a stratum; a fault.
An abrupt interruption of level in a piece of brickwork or masonry.
An instance of propelling oneself upwards.
The boy took a skip and a jump down the lane.
An object which causes one to jump; a ramp.
The skier flew off the jump and landed perfectly.
An instance of causing oneself to fall from an elevated location.
There were a couple of jumps from the bridge.
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.
An instance of reacting to a sudden stimulus by jerking the body.
A jumping move in a board game.
the knight's jump in chess
A button (of a joypad, joystick or similar device) used to make a video game character jump (propel itself upwards).
Press jump to start.
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.
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.
A discontinuity in the graph of a function, where the function is continuous in a punctured interval of the discontinuity.
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.
Any abrupt increase; a sudden rise; a hike
a dramatic jump in prices
An instance of faster-than-light travel, not observable from ordinary space.
A change of the path of execution to a different location.
Ellipsis of jump-start.
My car won't start. Could you give me a jump?
Clipping of jump cut.
Synonym of one-night stand (“single evening's performance”).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).
Exactly; precisely
Where this word comes from
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).
Exact; matched; fitting; precise.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).
A kind of loose jacket for men.
Where this word comes from
Compare French jupe (“a long petticoat, a skirt”) and English jupon.
Try it on your idea.
jump has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.