6 VERB If you leave someone doing something, they are doing that thing when you go away from them. □ [V n v-ing] Salter drove off, leaving Callendar surveying the scene.
7 VERB If you leave someone to do something, you go away from them so that they do it on their own. If you leave someone to himself or herself, you go away from them and allow them to be alone. □ [V n to-inf] I'd better leave you to get on with it, then. □ [V n to it ] Diana took the hint and left them to it. □ [be V -ed + to ] One of the advantages of a department store is that you are left to yourself to try things on. [Also V n to pron-refl]
8 VERB To leave an amount of something means to keep it available after the rest has been used or taken away. □ [V n + for ] He always left a little food for the next day. □ [V n n] Double rooms at any of the following hotels should leave you some change from £150.
9 VERB If you take one number away from another, you can say that it leaves the number that remains. For example, five take away two leaves three.
10 VERB To leave someone with something, especially when that thing is unpleasant or difficult to deal with, means to make them have it or make them responsible for it. □ [V n + with ] …a crash which left him with a broken collar-bone.
11 VERB If an event leaves people or things in a particular state, they are in that state when the event has finished. □ [V n adj] …violent disturbances which have left at least ten people dead. □ [V n prep/adv] The documentary left me in a state of shock.
12 VERB If you leave food or drink, you do not eat or drink it, often because you do not like it. □ [V n] If you don't like the cocktail you ordered, just leave it and try a different one.
13 VERB If something leaves a mark, effect, or sign, it causes that mark, effect, or sign to remain as a result. □ [V n] A muscle tear will leave a scar after healing.
14 VERB If you leave something in a particular state, position, or condition, you let it remain in that state, position, or condition. □ [V n adj] He left the album open on the table. □ [V n adv/prep] I've left the car lights on. □ [V n v-ing] I left the engine running.
15 VERB If you leave a space or gap in something, you deliberately make that space or gap. □ [V n] Leave a gap at the top and bottom so air can circulate.
16 VERB If you leave a job, decision, or choice to someone, you give them the responsibility for dealing with it or making it. □ [V n + to ] Affix the blue airmail label and leave the rest to us. □ [V n + to ] The judge should not have left it to the jury to decide. □ [V n to-inf] For the moment, I leave you to take all decisions.
17 VERB If you say that something such as an arrangement or an agreement leaves a lot to another thing or person, you are critical of it because it is not adequate and its success depends on the other thing or person. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [V amount + to ] The ceasefire leaves a lot to the goodwill of the forces involved.
18 VERB To leave someone with a particular course of action or the opportunity to do something means to let it be available to them, while restricting them in other ways. □ [V n n] This left me only one possible course of action. □ [be V -ed + with ] He was left with no option but to resign.
19 VERB If you leave something until a particular time, you delay doing it or dealing with it until then. □ [V n + until/to ] Don't leave it all until the last minute. ● PHRASE If you leave something too late , you delay doing it so that when you eventually do it, it is useless or ineffective. □ I hope I haven't left it too late.
20 VERB If you leave a particular subject, you stop talking about it and start discussing something else. □ [V n] I think we'd better leave the subject of Nationalism. □ [V n prep/adv] He suggested we get together for a drink sometime. I said I'd like that, and we left it there.
21 VERB If you leave property or money to someone, you arrange for it to be given to them after you have died. □ [V n + to ] He died two and a half years later, leaving everything to his wife.
22 N‑UNCOUNT [oft on N ] Leave is a period of time when you are not working at your job, because you are on holiday or vacation, or for some other reason. If you are on leave , you are not working at your job. □ Why don't you take a few days' leave? □ …maternity leave. □ He is home on leave from the Navy.
23 → see also left ➊
24 PHRASE If you leave someone or something alone , or if you leave them be , you do not pay them any attention or bother them. □ Some people need to confront a traumatic past; others find it better to leave it alone. □ Why can't you leave him be?
25 PHRASE If something continues from where it left off , it starts happening again at the point where it had previously stopped. □ As soon as the police disappear the violence will take up from where it left off.
26 to leave a lot to be desired → see desire
27 to leave someone to their own devices → see device
28 to take leave of your senses → see sense