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leap

1

In Sussex, England, ? – 18ᵗʰ century, a unit of dry capacity = 4 gallons.

sources

Leap, or Lib, half a bushel. Suss. In Essex a seed-leap, or lib, is a vessel or basket to carry corn in, on the arm, to sow. Ab A.S. sœd-leap, a seed-basket.

John Ray.
A Collection of English Words Not Generally used, with their Significations and Original, in two Alphabetical Catalogues, the one Of such as are proper to tbe Northern, the other to the Southern Counties…. 2nd edition.
London: Printed for Christopher Wilkinson, 1691.
from the edition edited by W. W. Skeat for the English Dialect Society.
Reprinted Glossaries.
London: Trübner, 1873-1874.

The words Leap and Lib in Sussex do now signifie the measure of half a bushel, or four gallons.

White Kennett.
A Glossary to explain the original, the acceptation, and obsoleteness of Words and Phrases, and to shew…
London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, Shoe-Lane, and sold by J. and A. Arch, Cornhill, 1816.
Page 129, under "Seed-cod".
The first edition appeared in 1695, as part of Parochial Antiquities attempted….

LEAP, or Lip; signifies half a bushel, from whence comes a Seed-leap.

Worlidge, 1704.

2

In Wales, before the 19ᵗʰ century, a unit of length, = 6 feet 9 inches.¹ In the 10ᵗʰ century Laws of Howell, it is 9 feet.²

1. Second Report… (1820), page 21.

2. See the source note below.

sources

V. Ar messur hunnu a uessurus Dywynwal urth [e] gronẏn heẏd: trẏ hẏt [y] gronẏn heẏd ẏnẏ uoduet [a] teẏr moduet ẏn llet [y] palẏw trẏ llet [y] palẏw ẏnẏ troetued, trẏ troeduet ẏnẏ cam, trẏ cham ẏnẏ neẏt trẏ neẏt ẏnẏ tẏr, sew ẏu ẏ tẏr/ o Gẏmraec newẏd gron, a mẏl or tẏr yu/ [e] mẏlltẏr. Ac or messur hunno [yd] ẏdẏs ẏn arueru [ema] etwa./

5. And that measure Dyvnwal measured by a barley corn: three lengths of a barley corn in the inch; three inches in the palm breadth; three palm breadths in the foot; three feet in the pace; three paces in the leap; three leaps in a land (the land, in modern Welsh, is called a ridge); and a thousand of the lands is a mile. And that measure we still use here.

The Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom.
Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales; Comprising Laws Supposed to be enacted by Howel the Good, Modified by subsequent regulations under the Native Princes Prior to the Conquest by Edward the First: and anomalous Laws, Consisting Principally of Institutions which by the Statute of Ruddlan were admitted to continue in force: With an English Translation of the Welsh Text. to which are added A Few Latin Transcripts, containing digests of the Welsh laws, principally of the Dimetian Code. With Indexes and Glossary. Volume I.
London: Printed by Command of His Late Majesty King William IV, 1841.
Pages 184-185.