the.com/jump
the universal verb for defying gravity, dares, and the part where you stop thinking
means To push off the ground (or any surface) and propel your body or an object upward or across a gap, often suddenly.
from Surfaces in English in the early 1500s, seemingly out of nowhere — no clear ancestor in Old English. It's widely thought to be echoic, a word built to sound like the thing it names: that soft, springy thud of feet leaving and meeting the ground. Possibly related to similar bouncy-sounding words in other languages (Swedish dialect 'gumpa,' to spring), but the truth is it's one of those words that seems to have leapt into the language fully formed.
flea powerFleas jump 150 times their body length
record heightHumans clear over eight feet vertically
startle reflexLoud noises trigger involuntary jumps in milliseconds
verb to nounFrom action to skydiving plunge to BASE leap
frog tongueSome frogs jump 20 times their length