Saltare

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The act of leaping or jumping, often in a lively manner
2. A term used to describe agile movements, commonly associated with dance or athletic performance
3. A concept that embodies the notion of vigorous, energetic motion in various contexts

Etymology: Latin "saltare" is the frequentative of "salire," "to leap," so its core sense is repeated or vigorous jumping, and it came to mean "to dance" in Latin itself. The Latin verb is an English word only in a narrow way: English has no native "saltare," but the family it belongs to shows up in words like "salient," which comes from the present participle of "salire" and originally meant "leaping" or "springing forth" before its sense shifted to "prominent" and "striking." The most direct English descendant is "sault," an archaic word meaning a leap, which entered English through Anglo-French and is now found mainly in historical and literary contexts. Its sense has not changed much, so it still names the physical act of jumping that the Latin verb expressed.

Synonyms: jump, leap, spring, skip

Antonyms: fall, drop, descend