Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - leave

(leaves, leaving, left) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. If you leave a place or person, you go away from that place or person. He would not be allowed to leave the country... I simply couldn’t bear to leave my little girl... My flight leaves in less than an hour... The last of the older children had left for school. VERB: V n, V n, V, V for n 2. 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... I am leaving to concentrate on writing fiction. ...a leaving present. VERB: V n, V, V-ing 3. 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... I would be insanely jealous if Bill left me for another woman. VERB: V n, V n for n, also V 4. 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. From the moment that Philippe had left her in the bedroom at the hotel, she had heard nothing of him... Leave your key with a neighbour in case you lock yourself out one day. VERB: V n prep/adv, V n with n 5. 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... Decide whether the ball is in square A, B, C, or D, then call and leave your answer... I left my phone number with several people. VERB: V n prep/adv, V n, V n with n 6. 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: V n -ing 7. 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... Diana took the hint and left them to it... One of the advantages of a department store is that you are left to yourself to try things on... VERB: V n to-inf, V n to it, be V-ed to pron-refl 8. To leave an amount of something means to keep it available after the rest has been used or taken away. He always left a little food for the next day... Double rooms at any of the following hotels should leave you some change from ?150. VERB: V n for n, V n n 9. If you take one number away from another, you can say that it leaves the number that remains. For example, five take away two leaves three. = equal VERB 10. 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: V n with n 11. 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... The documentary left me in a state of shock... VERB: V n adj, V n prep/adv 12. 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: V n 13. 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: V n 14. 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... I’ve left the car lights on... I left the engine running. VERB: V n adj, V n adv/prep, V n -ing 15. 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: V n 16. 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... The judge should not have left it to the jury to decide... For the moment, I leave you to take all decisions. VERB: V n to n, V it to n to-inf, V n to-inf 17. 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. The ceasefire leaves a lot to the goodwill of the forces involved... VERB: V amount to n c darkgreen]disapproval 18. 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... He was left with no option but to resign. VERB: V n n, be V-ed with n 19. If you leave something until a particular time, you delay doing it or dealing with it until then. Don’t leave it all until the last minute. VERB: V n until/to n • If you leave something too late, you delay doing it so that when you eventually do it, it is useless or ineffective. I hope I haven’t left it too late. PHRASE: V inflects 20. If you leave a particular subject, you stop talking about it and start discussing something else. I think we’d better leave the subject of Nationalism... He suggested we get together for a drink sometime. I said I’d like that, and we left it there. VERB: V n, V n prep/adv 21. If you leave property or money to someone, you arrange for it to be given to them after you have died. He died two and a half years later, leaving everything to his wife. VERB: V n to n 22. 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. N-UNCOUNT: oft on N 23. see also left 24. If you leave someone or something alone, or if you leave them be, you do not pay them any attention or bother them. Some people need to confront a traumatic past; others find it better to leave it alone... Why can’t you leave him be? PHRASE: V inflects 25. If something continues from where it left off, it starts happening again at the point where it had previously stopped. As soon as the police disappear the violence will take up from where it left off. PHRASE: PHR after v, oft from PHR 26. to leave a lot to be desired: see desire to leave someone to their own devices: see device to take leave of your senses: see sense take it or leave it: see take