leave
leave
(liːv )Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense leaves , present participle leaving , past tense, past participle left
1. verb
If you leave a place or person, you go away from that place or person.
He would not be allowed to leave the country. [VERB noun]
I simply couldn't bear to leave my little girl. [VERB noun]
My flight leaves in less than an hour. [VERB + in]
The last of the older children had left for school. [VERB + for]
2. verb
If you leave an institution, group, or job, you permanently stop attending that institution, being a member of that group, or doing that job.
He left school with no qualifications. [VERB noun]
I am leaving to concentrate on writing fiction. [VERB]
...a leaving present. [VERB-ing]
quit, give up, get out of, resign from, drop out of3. verb
If you leave your husband, wife, or some other person with whom you have had a close relationship, you stop living with them or you finish the relationship.
He'll never leave you. You need have no worry. [VERB noun]
I would be insanely jealous if Bill left me for another woman. [VERB noun + for]
[Also VERB]give up, abandon, desert, dump [informal], drop, surrender, ditch [informal], chuck [informal], discard, relinquish [formal], renounce, jilt [informal], cast aside, forbear, leave in the lurch4. verb
If you leave something or someone in a particular place, you let them remain there when you go away. If you leave something or someone with a person, you let them remain with that person so they are safe while you are away.
I left my bags in the car. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Don't leave your truck there. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
From the moment that Philippe had left her in the bedroom at the hotel, she had heard nothing of him. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Leave your key with a neighbour in case you lock yourself out one day. [VERB noun + with]
forget, lay down, leave behind, mislay5. verb
If you leave a message or an answer, you write it, record it, or give it to someone so that it can be found or passed on.
You can leave a message on our answering machine. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
Decide whether the ball is in square A, B, C, or D, then call and leave your answer. [VERB noun]
I left my phone number with several people. [VERB noun + with]
6. verb
If you leave someone doing something, they are doing that thing when you go away from them.
Salter drove off, leaving Callendar surveying the scene. [VERB noun verb-ing]
7. verb
If you leave someone to do something, you go away from them so that they do it on their own. If you leave someone to himself or herself, you go away from them and allow them to be alone.
I'd better leave you to get on with it, then. [VERB noun to-infinitive]
Diana took the hint and left them to it. [V n to it]
One of the advantages of a department store is that you are left to yourself to try things on. [be VERB-ed + to]
He quietly slipped away and left me to my tears. [VERB noun to noun]
[Also V n to pron-refl]8. verb
9. verb
10. verb
To leave someone with something, especially when that thing is unpleasant or difficult to deal with, means to make them have it or make them responsible for it.
...a crash which left him with a broken collar-bone. [VERB noun + with]
He left me with a child to support. [VERB noun with noun]
11. verb
If an event leaves people or things in a particular state, they are in that state when the event has finished.
...violent disturbances which have left at least ten people dead. [VERB noun adjective]
The documentary left me in a state of shock. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
So where does that leave me? [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
12. verb
If you leave food or drink, you do not eat or drink it, often because you do not like it.
If you don't like the cocktail you ordered, just leave it and try a different one. [VERB noun]
13. verb
If something leaves a mark, effect, or sign, it causes that mark, effect, or sign to remain as a result.
A muscle tear will leave a scar after healing. [VERB noun]
She left a lasting impression on him. [VERB noun]
14. verb
If you leave something in a particular state, position, or condition, you let it remain in that state, position, or condition.
He left the album open on the table. [VERB noun adjective]
I've left the car lights on. [VERB noun adverb/preposition]
I left the engine running. [VERB noun verb-ing]
15. verb
If you leave a space or gap in something, you deliberately make that space or gap.
Leave a gap at the top and bottom so air can circulate. [VERB noun]
16. verb
If you leave a job, decision, or choice to someone, you give them the responsibility for dealing with it or making it.
Affix the blue airmail label and leave the rest to us. [VERB noun + to]
The judge should not have left it to the jury to decide. [VERB noun + to]
For the moment, I leave you to take all decisions. [VERB noun to-infinitive]
entrust, commit, delegate, refer, hand over, assign, consign, allot, cede, give over17. verb
If you say that something such as an arrangement or an agreement leaves a lot to another thing or person, you are critical of it because it is not adequate and its success depends on the other thing or person.
[disapproval]The ceasefire leaves a lot to the goodwill of the forces involved. [V amount + to]
It's a vague formulation that leaves much to the discretion of local authorities. [V amount to n]
18. verb
To leave someone with a particular course of action or the opportunity to do something means to let it be available to them, while restricting them in other ways.
This left me only one possible course of action. [VERB noun noun]
He was left with no option but to resign. [be VERB-ed + with]
19. verb
Don't leave it all until the last minute. [V n + until/to]
20. verb
I think we'd better leave the subject of Nationalism. [VERB noun]
He suggested we get together for a drink sometime. I said I'd like that, and we left it there. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
21. verb
22. verb [no cont]
If you say that someone leaves a wife, husband, or a particular number of children, you mean that the wife, husband, or children remain alive after that person has died.
[formal]It is for his humanity as much as his music that his numerous friends and pupils will remember him. He leaves a wife, son and daughter. [VERB noun]
23. uncountable noun [oft on NOUN]
Leave is a period of time when you are not working at your job, because you are on holiday or vacation, or for some other reason. If you are on leave, you are not working at your job.
Why don't you take a few days' leave?
...maternity leave.
He is home on leave from the Navy.
holiday, break, vacation, time off, sabbatical, leave of absence, furlough, schoolie [Australian], accumulated day off or ADO [Australian]24. uncountable noun [NOUN to-infinitive]
[formal]
...an application for leave to appeal against the judge's order.
permission, freedom, sanction, liberty, concession, consent, allowance, warrant, authorization, dispensation25. See also left1
Phrasal verbs:
