leech1

[leech] /litʃ/
noun
1.
any bloodsucking or carnivorous aquatic or terrestrial worm of the class Hirudinea, certain freshwater species of which were formerly much used in medicine for bloodletting.
2.
a person who clings to another for personal gain, especially without giving anything in return, and usually with the implication or effect of exhausting the other's resources; parasite.
3.
Archaic. an instrument used for drawing blood.
verb (used with object)
4.
to apply leeches to, so as to bleed.
5.
to cling to and feed upon or drain, as a leech:
His relatives leeched him until his entire fortune was exhausted.
6.
Archaic. to cure; heal.
verb (used without object)
7.
to hang on to a person in the manner of a leech:
She leeched on to him for dear life.
Origin
before 900; Middle English leche, Old English lǣce; replacing (by confusion with leech2) Middle English liche, Old English lȳce; cognate with Middle Dutch lieke; akin to Old English lūcan to pull out, Middle High German liechen to pull
Related forms
leechlike, adjective
Synonyms
2. bloodsucker; extortioner; sponger.

leech2

[leech] /litʃ/
noun, Archaic.
1.
a physician.
Origin
before 1150; Middle English leche, Old English lǣce; cognate with Old Saxon lāki, Old High German lāhhi, Gothic lēkeis; akin to Old Norse lǣknir

leech3

[leech] /litʃ/
noun, Nautical
1.
either of the lateral edges of a square sail.
2.
the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
Also, leach.
Origin
1480-90; earlier lek, leche, lyche; akin to Dutch lijk leech, Old Norse līk nautical term of uncertain meaning

Leech

[leech] /litʃ/
noun
1.
Margaret, 1893–1974, U.S. historian, novelist, and biographer.
Examples from the web for leech
  • Scientists have developed a mechanical version of the leech that removes blood and promotes wound healing.
  • The leech is actually a highly sophisticated medical tool.
  • One of the problems with boiling veggies is that the nutrients leech out into the water.
  • leech neurons were used for reasons of convenience, but the technique can presumably be adapted to human nerve cells.
  • So you see, a leech may be a lot of mouth, but it isn't all bad.
  • It's easier to get money to study a panda than it is to study a leech.
  • Even if you think it is perfectly clean, you'll probably leech out enough oil to collapse your eggs.
  • Crews' approach is akin to judging modern medicine based on the fact that doctors once believed in leech cures.
  • It soon proved its efficacy, and redeemed the leech's pledge.
  • The same result has followed from keeping together different varieties of the medicinal leech.
British Dictionary definitions for leech

leech1

/liːtʃ/
noun
1.
any annelid worm of the class Hirudinea, which have a sucker at each end of the body and feed on the blood or tissues of other animals See also horseleech, medicinal leech
2.
a person who clings to or preys on another person
3.
  1. an archaic word for physician
  2. (in combination): leechcraft
4.
cling like a leech, to cling or adhere persistently to something
verb
5.
(transitive) to use leeches to suck the blood of (a person), as a method of medical treatment
Derived Forms
leechlike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English lǣce, lœce; related to Middle Dutch lieke

leech2

/liːtʃ/
noun
1.
(nautical) the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail or either of the vertical edges of a squaresail
Word Origin
C15: of Germanic origin; compare Dutch lijk
Word Origin and History for leech
n.

"bloodsucking aquatic worm," from Old English læce (Kentish lyce), of unknown origin (with a cognate in Middle Dutch lake). Commonly regarded as a transferred use of leech (n.2), but the Old English forms suggest a distinct word, which has been assimilated to leech (n.2) by folk etymology [see OED]. Figuratively applied to human parasites since 1784.

obsolete for "physician," from Old English læce, probably from Old Danish læke, from Proto-Germanic *lekjaz "enchanter, one who speaks magic words; healer, physician" (cf. Old Frisian letza, Old Saxon laki, Old Norse læknir, Old High German lahhi, Gothic lekeis "physician"), literally "one who counsels," perhaps connected with a root found in Celtic (cf. Irish liaig "charmer, exorcist, physician") and Slavic (cf. Serbo-Croatian lijekar, Polish lekarz), from PIE *lep-agi "conjurer," from root *leg- "to collect," with derivatives meaning "to speak" (see lecture (n.)).

For sense development, cf. Old Church Slavonic baliji "doctor," originally "conjurer," related to Serbo-Croatian bajati "enchant, conjure;" Old Church Slavonic vrači, Russian vrač "doctor," related to Serbo-Croatian vrač "sorcerer, fortune-teller." The form merged with leech (n.1) in Middle English, apparently by folk etymology. In 17c., leech usually was applied only to veterinary practitioners. The fourth finger of the hand, in Old English, was læcfinger, translating Latin digitus medicus, Greek daktylus iatrikos, supposedly because a vein from that finger stretches straight to the heart.

leech in Medicine

leech 1 (lēch)
n.
Any of various chiefly aquatic bloodsucking or carnivorous annelid worms of the class Hirudinea, one species of which (Hirudo medicinalis) was formerly used by physicians to bleed patients. v. leeched, leech·ing, leech·es
To bleed with leeches.

Slang definitions & phrases for leech

leech

noun

A human parasite (1784+)

verb

: insisted that MCI was not leeching off the successful campaign of its competition (1960s+)


leech in Technology

networking
Someone who downloads files but provides nothing for others to download. The term is common on BitTorrent, which relies on having multiple sources for files to improve download speed.
(2007-03-27)