Leech
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leech¹
- /ˈliːt͡ʃ/
- [ˈlɪi̯t͡ʃ]
Sounds like leach · Rhymes with -iːtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English leche (“blood-sucking worm”), from Old English lǣċe (“blood-sucking worm”), akin to Middle Dutch lāke ("blood-sucking worm"; > modern Dutch laak).
noun leeches
- A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis. The leech on his leg had swelled to more than five inches long, puffed and swollen on his blood.
- A person who derives advantage from others in a parasitic fashion. 'Wrecked his body and his mind, no use to hisself or his family or nobody, just a leech on society'.
- A glass tube designed for drawing blood from damaged tissue by means of a vacuum.
Similar: sponger, bloodsucker, vampire
verb leeches · leeching · leeched
- To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient. This had to be leeched, and lanced, and doctored with ointments and poultices for several weeks, till I was almost driven to despair, - for the weather was at length fine, and I was tantalized by seeing grand butterflies flying past my door, and thinking of the twenty or thirty new species of insect
- To drain (resources) without giving back. Near-synonyms: mooch, suck down
leech²
- /ˈliːt͡ʃ/
- [ˈlɪi̯t͡ʃ]
Sounds like leach · Rhymes with -iːtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English leche (“physician”), from Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), from Proto-West Germanic *lākī, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz (“doctor”), of disputed origin, but usually thought to be connected with Proto-Celtic (compare Old Irish líaig (“doctor, physician”)); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”).
Cognate with Old Frisian lētza (“physician”), Old Saxon lāki (“physician”), Old High German lāhhi (“doctor, healer”), Danish læge (“doctor, surgeon”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis, “physician”). Slavic words such as Serbo-Croatian ljèkār, Polish lekarz (“physician, doctor”) are usually considered to be borrowings from Germanic.
noun leeches
- A physician. Many skillful leeches him abide to salve his hurts.
- A healer. Their functions are threefold, those of the medicine-man (the leech, or healer by supernatural means); of the soothsayer (the prophet through communion with the invisible world); and of the priest, especially in his capacity as exorcist
leech³
- /ˈliːt͡ʃ/
- [ˈlɪi̯t͡ʃ]
Sounds like leach · Rhymes with -iːtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English lechen (“to cure, heal, treat”), from Middle English leche (“doctor, physician”). Compare Swedish läka (“to heal”) and Norwegian Nynorsk lækja (“to heal”).
verb leeches · leeching · leeched
- To treat, cure or heal. 1564, Accounts of Louth Corporalː Paid for leeching.. my horses very sick.
leech⁴
- /ˈliːt͡ʃ/
- [ˈlɪi̯t͡ʃ]
Sounds like leach · Rhymes with -iːtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English lek, leche, lyche, from Old Norse lík (“leechline”), from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką (compare West Frisian lyk (“band”), Dutch lijk (“boltrope”), Middle High German geleich (“joint, limb”)), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- ‘to bind’ (compare Latin ligō (“tie, bind”), Ukrainian нали́гати (nalýhaty, “to bridle, fetter”), Albanian lidh (“to bind”), Hittite link- (caus. linganu-) ‘to swear’ (with -n- infix).
noun leeches
- The vertical edge of a square sail. To help combat these problems, almost all sailmakers trim the leeches of their headsails to a hollow or concave profile and enclose a LEECHLINE within the leech tabling.
- The aft edge of a triangular sail. Trim the leech of the jib parallel to the main by watching the slot between the mainsail and the jib.
Leech⁵
Where it comes from
* As an English surname, variant of Leach.
* As an Irish surname, from Liaigh (“physician”) (a calque of the English surname) or Ó Laoghóg (“descendant of Laoghóg”) and Ó Maolmhaodhóg (“descendant of Maolmhaodhóg”); see Logue.
proper noun Leeches · Leach
- A surname originating as an occupation, derived from the profession leech, a former word for a physician.
