Meaning
To make a fresh start by improving your behaviour or habits, especially after a period of poor conduct. Typically said of personal reform, such as resolving to be punctual or give up a bad habit, and often in the past tense about someone's changed ways. Neutral register with a mildly hopeful or sceptical undertone depending on context; it implies the earlier conduct was faulty. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The 'leaf' is a page of a book, not foliage: since Old English, 'leaf' has meant a sheet of paper or a book page alongside its botanical sense, so the metaphor is of turning to a clean page and beginning again - an image from reading, not from autumn trees, though it is frequently misread as the latter. The Online Etymology Dictionary records the expression, meaning to begin a new and better course of life, from the 1590s, with the shorter form 'turn the leaf' known by the 1570s. Cambridge's current definition, changing your behaviour in a positive way, shows how the page-turning image has settled into standard advice about self-improvement.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- turn a new leaf
- turn over the leaf
- turning over a new leaf
Usage Examples
- After missing every deadline in the spring, Dieter turned over a new leaf and now files reports early.
- The club has turned over a new leaf since the new coach insisted on training punctually.
- He promised to turn over a new leaf, though his family had heard it every January for a decade.