英语词汇“leaf”的英英意思、用法、释义、翻译、读音、例句、短语、词组-英语词典

leaf

(liːf )

Word forms: leaves , leafs , leafing , leafed

1. countable noun [usually plural, oft in/into N] B1

The leaves of a tree or plant are the parts that are flat, thin, and usually green. Many trees and plants lose their leaves in the winter and grow new leaves in the spring.

In the garden, the leaves of the horse chestnut had already fallen. [+ of]

The Japanese maple that stands across the drive had just come into leaf.

Synonyms: frond, flag, needle, pad

2. See also -leaved

3. countable noun

A leaf is one of the pieces of paper of which a book is made.

He flattened the wrappers and put them between the leaves of his book. [+ of]

Synonyms: page, sheet, folio

4. to take a leaf from someone's book phrase

If you take a leaf from someone's book you behave in the same way as them because you want to be like that person or as successful as they are.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Branson's book. It's easy to see how he became a billionaire.

5. to turn over a new leaf phrase

If you say that you are going to turn over a new leaf, you mean that you are going to start to behave in a better or more acceptable way.

He realized he was in the wrong and promised to turn over a new leaf.

Synonyms: reform, change, improve, amend

6. to shake like a leaf phrase [VERB inflects]

If you say that someone is shaking like a leaf, you mean that their body is shaking a lot, for instance because they are very cold or frightened.

I didn't think about the danger at the time. Afterwards I was shaking like a leaf.

Phrasal verbs:

leaf through

phrasal verb

If you leaf through something such as a book or magazine, you turn the pages without reading or looking at them very carefully.

Most patients derive enjoyment from leafing through old picture albums. [VERB PARTICLE noun]

Image of leaf

Idioms:

a fig leaf

something which is intended to hide an embarrassing or awkward situation

It seems that the pledge to rejoin the ERM was a fig leaf, designed to indicate that the government's economic strategy was not dead but merely sleeping.

turn over a new leaf

to start to behave in a better or more acceptable way than previously

The military leader said he and the king have agreed to turn over a new leaf in their relations with one another.

take a leaf out of someone's book

to copy someone and behave or do something in the same way as them, usually because they were successful when they acted in that way

If he wants a better rapport with the British public, it's high time he took a leaf out of Bruno's book and started doing game shows, even pantomimes.

shake like a leaf

to shake because you are cold, afraid, or nervous

At three o'clock in the morning she sat up suddenly in bed, shaking like a leaf.

Collocations:

leaf litter

Ideally lots of decaying leaf litter, never too dry and never too wet.

Times, Sunday Times

They show up in clusters among old leaf litter and can be found near oak, beech and pine trees.

Times, Sunday Times

They are fond of the southern sides of windrows, long lines of swept-up leaf litter.

Times, Sunday Times

The darkness was tangible, the leaf litter scattered with fallen trees and huge logs.

Times, Sunday Times

An iguana appeared like a miniature dinosaur, lumbering through the leaf litter.

Times, Sunday Times

leaf mulch

It will feast on the nutrients in the leaf mulch.

Times, Sunday Times

We're suited to the damp, we like kicking through leaf mulch and scraping frost from wing-mirrors.

Times, Sunday Times

They will decompose more quickly into nutritious leaf mulch if you have already chopped them up a bit.

Times,Sunday Times

Your on-trend white trainers are spattered from the puddles and leaf mulch.

Times, Sunday Times

leaf stalks

Long leaves spread evenly around each leader, but it's the bright red leaf stalks that make it stand out from the crowd.

Times, Sunday Times

Things to look for include brown or black leaf stalks, discolouration of healthy olive green bark to purple and brown, and diamondshaped lesions on branches.

Times, Sunday Times

The leaf stalks are red, as are the tips of the propellor-like seeds that are now developing.

Times, Sunday Times

Sycamores are looking colourful, with red leaf stalks, and bunches of winged seeds that on most trees are now pink and green.

Times, Sunday Times

Females predominate on the leaf stalks and fruit while males predominate on the leaves.