Leap Year Definition

noun
A year of 366 days in the Gregorian calendar, occurring every fourth year: the additional day, Feb. 29, makes up for the time lost annually when the approximate 36514-day cycle is computed as 365 days: a leap year is a year whose number is exactly divisible by 4, or, in case of the final year of a century, by 400
Webster's New World
An intercalary year in a calendar.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
adjective
Attributive form of leap year, noun.
Stateside, a presidential election is a leap-year event.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Leap Year

Noun

Singular:
leap year
Plural:
leap-years

Origin of Leap Year

  • So called from the fact that, while a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar normally advances one day of the week from one year to the next, in a leap year the day of the week will advance two days (from March onwards) due to the extra day inserted at the end of February (thus "leaping over" one of the days in the week). For example, Christmas Day fell on Saturday in 2004, Sunday in 2005, Monday in 2006 and Tuesday in 2007 but then "leapt" over Wednesday to fall on a Thursday in 2008.

    From Wiktionary

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