HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
leaf  (lēf)
Share:
Tweet n. pl. leaves (lēvz) 1. A usually green, flattened, lateral structure attached to a stem and functioning as a principal organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in most plants. 2. A leaflike organ or structure. 3. a. Leaves considered as a group; foliage. b. The state or time of having or showing leaves: trees in full leaf. 4. The leaves of a plant used or processed for a specific purpose: large supplies of tobacco leaf. 5. Any of the sheets of paper bound in a book, each side of which constitutes a page. 6. a. A very thin sheet of material, especially metal. b. Such leaves considered as a group: covered in gold leaf. 7. a. A hinged or removable section for a table top. b. A hinged or otherwise movable section of a folding door, shutter, or gate. c. A section of drawbridge that moves upward or to the side. 8. One of several metal strips forming a leaf spring. v.leafed, leaf·ing, leafs v.intr. 1. To produce leaves; put forth foliage: trees just beginning to leaf. 2. To turn pages, as in searching or browsing: leafed through the catalog. v. tr. Phrasal Verb: To turn through the pages of. leaf out Idioms: To put forth leaves, especially after a period of dormancy: the period in the spring when trees begin to leaf out. take a leaf from (someone) To use (someone) as an example. take a leaf from (or out of) (someone's) book To use (someone) as an example. [Middle English, from Old English lēaf.]  (click for a larger image)  (click for a larger image) leaftop: anatomy of a leaf bottom: a double-leaf bascule drawbridge |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
