the.com/leapfrog
a children's game that taught economists how to skip stages and embarrass the establishment.
means To advance past competitors or normal stages of development by skipping intermediate steps, rather than progressing one increment at a time.
from A transparent compound of "leap" + "frog," naming the children's game in which one player vaults over another's stooped back — both the game and the word are recorded from around the late 16th century. "Leap" comes from Old English hlēapan, to spring or bound; "frog" from Old English frogga, the small jumper everyone has watched clear a pond in a single hop. The figurative sense — overtaking by skipping ahead — is much later, an extension of that vivid image of clearing an obstacle in one bound.
- economic term
- poor nations skip landlines, jump straight to mobile
- frog truth
- real frogs do not actually leap over each other
- word age
- the term dates back to the 1590s
- military slang
- troops advancing past each other in alternating waves
- VLSI design
- a logic style named for its hopping signals
leapfrog toy game — children's playground game where players jump over each other's backs, documented since at least the 16th century
leapfrog military strategy — world war ii pacific campaign tactic where us forces bypassed heavily defended japanese islands, used from 1943-1945
leapfrog telecom company — south african telecommunications provider founded in 2001, operates mobile and internet services across africa