Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Related Searches
Synonyms
Nearby Words

leak out

 - 2 dictionary results

leak

  [leek]
Use leak out in a Sentence
–noun
1. an unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc., enters or escapes: a leak in the roof.
2. an act or instance of leaking.
3. any means of unintended entrance or escape.
4. Electricity. the loss of current from a conductor, usually resulting from poor insulation.
5. a disclosure of secret, esp. official, information, as to the news media, by an unnamed source.
–verb (used without object)
6. to let a liquid, gas, light, etc., enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or crack: The boat leaks.
7. to pass in or out in this manner, as liquid, gas, or light: gas leaking from a pipe.
8. to become known unintentionally (usually fol. by out): The news leaked out.
9. to disclose secret, esp. official, information anonymously, as to the news media: The official revealed that he had leaked to the press in the hope of saving his own reputation.
–verb (used with object)
10. to let (liquid, gas, light, etc.) enter or escape: This camera leaks light.
11. to allow to become known, as information given out covertly: to leak the news of the ambassador's visit.
—Idiom
12. take a leak, Slang: Vulgar. to urinate.
Origin:
1375–1425; 1955–60 for def. 11; late ME leken < ON leka to drip, leak; akin to D lek, obs. G lech leaky. See leach 1

Related forms:
leaker, noun
leakless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To leak out
Word Origin & History

leak  (v.)
"to let water in or out" [Johnson], 1420, from M.Du. leken "to drip, to leak," or from O.N. leka, cognate of O.E. leccan "to moisten" (which did not survive into M.E.), all from P.Gmc. *lek- "deficiency" (cf. O.H.G. lecchen "to become dry," Ger. lechzen "to be parched with thirst"). The noun is from 1487. The figurative meaning "come to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" dates from at least 1832; transitive sense first recorded 1859; the noun in this sense dates from 1950. Noun sense of "act of urination" is from 1934 (first attested in "Tropic of Cancer"); but the verb meaning "to piss" is from 1596.
"Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney." ["I Hen. IV," II.i.22]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see leak out on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
Ask AnswersEviteExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyMy Way