leech definition | Dictionary.com

leech

1 [leech]

–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, esp. 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:
bef. 900; ME leche, OE lǣce; r. (by confusion with leech ² ) ME liche, OE lȳce; c. MD lieke; akin to OE lūcan to pull out, MHG liechen to pull

Related forms:

leechlike, adjective

Synonyms:
2. bloodsucker; extortioner; sponger.

leech

2 [leech]

–noun Archaic.

a physician.

Origin:
bef. 1150; ME leche, OE lǣce; c. OS lāki, OHG lāhhi, Goth lēkeis; akin to ON lǣknir

leech

3 [leech]

–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 D lijk leech, ON līk nautical term of uncert. meaning

Leech

[leech]

–noun

Margaret, 1893–1974, U.S. historian, novelist, and biographer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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leech¹ (lēch)

Any of various chiefly aquatic bloodsucking or carnivorous annelid worms of the class Hirudinea, of which one species (Hirudo medicinalis) was formerly used by physicians to bleed patients and is now sometimes used as a temporary aid to circulation during surgical reattachment of a body part.
One that preys on or clings to another; a parasite.
Archaic A physician.

v. leeched, leech·ing, leech·es

v. tr.

To bleed with leeches.
To drain the essence or exhaust the resources of.

v. intr.
To attach oneself to another in the manner of a leech.

[Middle English leche, physician, leech, from Old English lǣce; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

leech² (lēch)

n. Nautical

Either vertical edge of a square sail.
The after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.

[Middle English leche, probably from Middle Low German līk, leech line; see leig- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Leech

Leech\ (l[=e]ch), n. See 2d Leach.

Leech

Leech\, v. t. See Leach, v. t.

Leech

Leech\, n. [Cf. LG. leik, Icel. l[=i]k, Sw. lik boltrope, st[*a]ende liken the leeches.] (Naut.) The border or edge at the side of a sail. [Written also leach.]

Leech line, a line attached to the leech ropes of sails, passing up through blocks on the yards, to haul the leeches by. --Totten.

Leech rope, that part of the boltrope to which the side of a sail is sewed.

Leech

Leech\, n. [OE. leche, l[ae]che, physician, AS. l[=ae]ce; akin to Fries. l[=e]tza, OHG. l[=a]hh[=i], Icel. l[ae]knari, Sw. l["a]kare, Dan. l[ae]ge, Goth. l[=e]keis, AS. l[=a]cnian to heal, Sw. l["a]ka, Dan. l[ae]ge, Icel. l[ae]kna, Goth. l[=e]kin[=o]n.]

1. A physician or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing. [Written also leach.] [Archaic] --Spenser.

Leech, heal thyself. --Wyclif (Luke iv. 23).

2. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous genera and species of annulose worms, belonging to the order Hirudinea, or Bdelloidea, esp. those species used in medicine, as Hirudo medicinalis of Europe, and allied species.

Note: In the mouth of bloodsucking leeches are three convergent, serrated jaws, moved by strong muscles. By the motion of these jaws a stellate incision is made in the skin, through which the leech sucks blood till it is gorged, and then drops off. The stomach has large pouches on each side to hold the blood. The common large bloodsucking leech of America (Macrobdella decora) is dark olive above, and red below, with black spots. Many kinds of leeches are parasitic on fishes; others feed upon worms and mollusks, and have no jaws for drawing blood. See Bdelloidea. Hirudinea, and Clepsine.

3. (Surg.) A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.

Horse leech, a less powerful European leech (H[ae]mopis vorax), commonly attacking the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals that drink at pools where it lives.

Leech

Leech\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leeched (l[=e]cht); p. pr. & vb. n. Leeching.]

1. To treat as a surgeon; to doctor; as, to leech wounds. [Archaic]

2. To bleed by the use of leeches.

Language Translation for : leech

Spanish: sanguijuela,

German: der Blutegel,

Japanese: ひる

More Translations »

leech

n. Among BBS types, crackers and warez d00dz, one who consumes knowledge without generating new software, cracks, or techniques. BBS culture specifically defines a leech as someone who downloads files with few or no uploads in return, and who does not contribute to the message section. Cracker culture extends this definition to someone (a lamer, usually) who constantly presses informed sources for information and/or assistance, but has nothing to contribute.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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leech (1)

"bloodsucking aquatic worm," from O.E. læce (Kentish lyce), of unknown origin (with a cognate in M.Du. lake). Commonly regarded as a transf. use of leech (2), but the O.E. forms suggest a distinct word, which has been assimilated to leech (2) by folk etymology. Figuratively applied to human parasites since 1784.

leech (2)

obsolete for "physician," from O.E. læce, from O.Dan. læke, from P.Gmc. *lælijaz "healer, physician" (cf. O.N. læknir, O.H.G. lahhi, Goth. lekeis "physician"), lit. "one who counsels," perhaps connected with a root found in Celt. (cf. Ir. liaig "charmer, exorcist, physician") and/or Slavic (cf. Serbo-Croatian lijekar), with an original sense of "speak, talk, whisper, conjurer." The form and sense merged with leech (1) in M.E. by folk etymology. In 17c., leech usually was applied only to veterinary practitioners. The third finger of the hand, in O.E., was læcfinger, translating L. digitus medicus, Gk. daktylus iatrikos, supposedly because a vein from that finger stretches straight to the heart.

Main Entry: ¹leech
Pronunciation: 'lEch
Function: noun
: any of numerous carnivorous or bloodsucking annelid worms that comprise the classHirudinea, that typically have a flattened segmented lance-shaped body with well-marked external annulations, a sucker at each end, a mouth within the anterior sucker, and a large stomach with pouchesof large capacity at the sides, that are hermaphroditic usually with direct development, and that occur chiefly in freshwater although a few are marine and some tropical forms are terrestrial—see MEDICINAL LEECH

Main Entry: ²leech
Function: transitive verb
1 : to treat as a physician :

CURE

, HEAL
2 : to bleed by the use of leeches

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.

leech 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)

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