leash

[leesh]

noun

a chain, strap, etc., for controlling or leading a dog or other animal; lead.
check; curb; restraint: to keep one's temper in leash; a tight leash on one's subordinates.
Hunting. a brace and a half, as of foxes or hounds.

verb (used with object)

to secure, control, or restrain by or as if by a leash: to leash water power for industrial use.
to bind together by or as if by a leash; connect; link; associate.

Origin of leash

1250–1300; Middle English lesh, variant of lece, lese < Old French laisse. See lease¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for leashed

rope, cord, tether, strap, control, chain, lead, restraint, curb, bridle, deterrent, hold, check, hog-tie, clog, fetter, secure, suppress, restrain, hamper

Examples from the Web for leashed

Contemporary Examples of leashed

After he'd leashed the huskies up to the sled, Winkelmann deftly zipped me into a tarp-like blanket.
Visiting the Arctic Circle…Before It’s Irreversibly Changed
Terry Greene Sterling
April 1, 2014
Marines on skis and snowboards, several with leashed canine companions at their sides.
Homefront Veterans: Skiing With Wounded Warriors
John Kael Weston
February 17, 2014
A leashed dog flitted from pickup to semi to tour bus, sometimes pulling its handler as it charged ahead.
U.S. Drug and Immigration Checkpoints Take Toll on Border Towns
Andrew Becker, G. W. Schulz
June 18, 2013
I have heard stories about leashed Pit Bulls killing other dogs.
Get Rid of Pit Bulls
Charles Leerhsen
March 12, 2010
It doesn't matter if your dog is loose or leashed, or if you've posted "Beware of Dog Warnings."
Dogs in a Deadly Crossfire
Radley Balko
July 19, 2009

Historical Examples of leashed

Lithe and poised, he was the epitome of leashed and controlled action.
Subspace Survivors
E. E. Smith
His whole body was a quivering vehicle for the leashed soul of speed.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair
Tobin and McCane growled at each other like leashed fighting-dogs.
The Boss of Wind River
David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
And they could not be more sure of the conductor and the driver if they had them manacled and leashed.
The Author's Craft
Arnold Bennett
Precision and dispatch followed, like two leashed hounds, in the footsteps of the chief.
The Incendiary
W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy

British Dictionary definitions for leashed

leash

noun

a line or rope used to walk or control a dog or other animal; lead
something resembling this in functionhe kept a tight leash on his emotions
hunting three of the same kind of animal, usually hounds, foxes, or hares
straining at the leash eagerly impatient to begin something

verb

(tr) to control or secure by or as if by a leash

Word Origin for leash

C13: from Old French laisse, from laissier to loose (hence, to let a dog run on a leash), ultimately from Latin laxus lax

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for leashed

leash

"to attach to or with a leash," 1590s, from leash (n.). Related: Leashed; leashing.

leash

"thong for holding a dog or hound," c.1300, from Old French laisse "hound's leash," from laissier "loosen," from Latin laxare, from laxus "loose" (see lax). Figurative sense attested from early 15c. The meaning "a set of three" is from early 14c., originally in sporting language.