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lech

[lech]
noun, verb (used without object)
  1. letch.
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letch

or lech

[lech]Slang.
noun
  1. a lecherous desire or craving.
  2. a lecher.
  3. any strong desire or liking.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to behave like a lecher (often followed by for or after).
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Origin of letch

First recorded in 1790–1800; probably back formation from lecher
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

CasanovalibertinedebaucherplayboyrakephilandererRomeogigoloreprobatestudwomanizerLotharioswingersatyrrouelady-killer

Examples from the Web for leches

Historical Examples

  • Leches white with an antelope of redde corven theryn, a crowne about his neck with a cheyne of golde.

    A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483

    Anonymous

  • Leches in hundreds fed securely beside them, for they have learned only to keep out of bow-shot, or two hundred yards.

British Dictionary definitions for leches

Lech

noun
  1. a river in central Europe, rising in SW Austria and flowing generally north through S Germany to the River Danube. Length: 285 km (177 miles)
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letch

verb, noun
  1. a variant spelling of lech
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Word Origin

C18: perhaps back formation from lecher

lech

letch

informal
verb
  1. (intr usually foll by after) to behave lecherously (towards); lust (after)
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noun
  1. a lecherous act or indulgence
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Word Origin

C19: back formation from lecher
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 leches

lech

n.1

"Celtic monumental stone," 1768, from Welsh llech, cognate with Gaelic and Irish leac (see cromlech).

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lech

n.2

"yen, strong desire" (especially sexual), 1796, variant of letch. Meaning "a lecher" is by 1943.

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letch

n.

"craving, longing," 1796, perhaps a back-formation from lecher, or from a figurative use of latch (v.) in a secondary sense of "grasp, grasp on to."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper