Edit in JSFiddle

<div class="hover">
    Default settings
</div>

<div class="hover" data-distance="100" data-delay="1000">
    Distance: 100px, Delay: 1000ms
</div>

<div class="hover" data-distance="1" data-delay="100">
    Distance: 1px, Delay: 100ms
</div>

<div class="hover" data-leave="1000">
    Leave: 1000ms
</div>

$('.hover').on({
    'hoverinit' : function(ev, hover) {
        var delay = $(this).data('delay'),
            distance = $(this).data('distance'),
            leave = $(this).data('leave');
        if(delay) {
            hover.delay(delay);
        }
        if(distance) {
            hover.distance(distance);
        }
        if(leave) {
            hover.leave(leave);
        }
    },
    'hoverenter' : function(ev) {
        $(this).addClass('highlight');
    },
    'hoverleave' : function(ev) {
        $(this).removeClass('highlight');
    }
});

body{ 
    font-family: Helvetica,"Lucida Grande","Lucida Sans",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;
}

div {
    padding: 5px;
    margin: 10px;
}

.hover {
    border: 1px solid gray;
}

.highlight {
    background-color: yellow;
}