"to run with long strides," early 15c.; earlier "to leap, jump, spring" (c. 1300), from Old Norse hlaupa "to run, leap," from Proto-Germanic *hlaupan (see leap (v.)). Related: Loped; loping. The noun meaning "a jump, a leap" is from late 14c.; sense of "long, bounding stride" is from 1809.
