leopard

«leopard» in Mova's school dictionary: a big wild cat with yellow fur covered in dark spots… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a leopard, leopards)

meaning for a pupil

1) A leopard is a big wild cat with yellow fur covered in dark spots called rosettes; it lives in Africa and parts of Asia. tree →

2) Leopards are strong climbers and often drag their food up into trees to keep it safe from lions and hyenas. tree →

3) «Leopard print» is a pattern on clothes that looks like a leopard's spots. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons leopards come up in camouflage (spots help them hide in the shade), food chains (top predator) and comparing big cats: a cheetah has solid round spots and a slim body, a jaguar has bigger rosettes with dots inside and lives in the Americas. The saying «a leopard can't change its spots» means people do not really change who they are. A black leopard is often called a black panther.

examples

• The leopard rested on a branch in the afternoon heat. tree →
• A leopard's spots help it hide in the long grass. tree →
• The leopard dragged its catch up into a tree. tree →
• Leopards hunt mostly at night. tree →
• A black panther is often a leopard with very dark fur. tree →
• Gran wore a leopard-print scarf. tree →
• «A leopard can't change its spots», said Dad. tree →
• There you will see many wild beasts—lions, tigers, leopards, apes, and so on. tree →

note

Plural «leopards». Spelling trap: «leo-pard», the «o» is silent; say «LEP-erd». Do not mix up leopard, cheetah and jaguar: cheetahs have simple spots and tear marks on the face; jaguars live in the Americas and have dots inside their rosettes. The young is a «cub».

In the corpora

• Leopards drag their kills, sometimes as heavy as themselves, up into trees where lions and hyenas cannot steal them.
• A black panther is a leopard or jaguar with extra dark pigment, and its spots can still be seen in bright light.
• Snow leopards cannot roar like lions and tigers; they hiss, growl and make a puffing sound instead.
• Bagheera in The Jungle Book is a black leopard.
• You watch a snow leopard creep across a cliff for three thrilling minutes.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «leopard» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.