puddle jump

English

Alternative forms

• puddle-jump

Noun

puddle jump (plural puddle jumps)

1. A short airplane flight (in a puddle jumper).
   • 2009, Andrew Zimmern, The Bizarre Truth, →ISBN, page 15:

     Just a white-knuckled puddle jump away lies the stunningly beautiful. relatively unvisited islands of Samoa.

   • 2012, DH Koester, And There I Was, →ISBN:

     First, came an uneventful puddle jump to the chaos of LA International, where, surrounded by thousands, I looked out on the tarmac at the massive aluminum monster that was to be my flight to New York.

   • 2012, Michelle McGriff, Blood Relations, →ISBN:

     Chance wasn't sure if she was genuinely concerned about Rashawn, trying to avoid conversation about Junior, or truly just nervous about the puddle jump from SFO to PDX.

2. A jump over or into a puddle.
   • 1975, Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Sentinel - Volume 77, page 2000:

     Karen Cornell Wilson Kenya's big red boots were ... great for puddle jumps.

   • 1993, Pure-bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette - Volume 110, page 80:

     Hold the lead in your right hand so the slack is draped against your left thigh, then take a puddle jump with your left leg.

   • 2002, The American Oxonian - Volume 89, Issues 1-2, page 277:

     On the work front, Georgie notes: "When I am not accompanying Sam on his puddle jumps, I spend my time at The Field Museum where I am involved with the institution's environmental conservation programs.

   • 2003, Car and Driver - Volume 48, page 111:

     The off-ramp handbrake spin-'n'-sprint, the salt-truck joust, the 10-meter pothole puddle jump — all were good ideas rejected because of logistical problems or the likelihood that we would be sued.

3. A short trip by boat, especially one that remains close to shore.
   • 1987, Common Lives, Lesbian Lives - Issues 21-24, page 114:

     The first time I saw cloudberries on a portage was early on, after several hard short portages and puddle jumps.

   • 1989, Arthur Frommer, George McDonald, New York State, 1990-91, →ISBN, page 191:

     The trips aren't long; in fact, the south ferry is barely more than a puddle jump.

4. A small difference.
   • 1969, The Many Worlds of Music:

     Shepard concluded: ". . . he puts it over as show business, tinkling the piano, puckering and mugging as he goes and making the generation gap seem little more than a puddle jump.

Verb

puddle jump (third-person singular simple present puddle jumps, present participle puddle jumping, simple past and past participle puddle jumped)

1. To take a short flight (on a puddle jumper).
   • 1963, United States. Congress. House. Appropriations, Department of Defense Appropriations for 1964:

     I was concerned that you couldn't get into La Paz at 13,000 feet, and had to go over into Lima and puddle jump out of Lima into La Paz.

   • 2006, Ira Eisenstadt, The Wedding Song, →ISBN, page 178:

     "Why puddle jump between home and New York?

   • 2012, Wisconsin Natural Resources - Volumes 36-37, page 12:

     We then "puddle jumped" to the Drake Bay airstrip, on the northern Pacific side of the peninsula.

2. To jump over or into puddles.
   • 2002, Big City Blues - Volume 8, Issues 1-2, page 28:

     Not wanting to puddle jump across the parking lot if I didn't have to, I reached for my cell phone and called the club, only to get a busy signal.

   • 2007, Paul Johnson, City of Kings: The Ongoing Adventures of Casey Jones, →ISBN, page 59:

     Ange parked fifty yards away and sent the three younger men to puddle-jump and investigate.

   • 2013, Grace Price, PreK-1 Daily Fitness Activities, →ISBN:

     You can puddle jump your way through your walk in the rain.

3. To take a short trip by boat, especially one that remains lose to shore
   • 1939, Thomas Fleming Day, The Rudder - Volume 55, page 29:

     There are some dandy short cuts up there, if you don't mind puddle jumping. If you figure tide and current right, sometimes you can jump a puddle in a couple of good jumps, with the breakers boosting you.

4. To move a small distance; to go from one small thing to another.
   • 1975, The American Legislator - Volume 1, page 116:

     States will no longer be able to "puddle jump" among aid categories in order to take advantage of the more general federal matching formulas in some programs.