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.
a person who clings to another for personal gain, especially without giving anything in return, and usually with the implication or effect of exhausting the other's resources; parasite.
Archaic. an instrument used for drawing blood.
to apply leeches to, so as to bleed.
to cling to and feed upon or drain, as a leech.
His relatives leeched him until his entire fortune was exhausted.
Archaic. to cure; heal.
either of the lateral edges of a square sail.
the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
any annelid worm of the class Hirudinea, which have a sucker at each end of the body and feed on the blood or tissues of other animals See also horseleech medicinal leech
a person who clings to or preys on another person
an archaic word for physician
( in combination )
leechcraft
to cling or adhere persistently to something
First recorded before 900; Middle English lech(e), Old English lǣce, lȳce; replacing (by association with leech 2 ) Middle English liche, Old English lȳce; cognate with Middle Dutch lake, leke, lieke; akin to Old English lūcan “to pull up, pull out,” Middle High German liechen “to pull”
First recorded before 950; Middle English leche, lech, lecche, Old English lǣce, lēce; cognate with Old Frisian letza, leischa, Old Saxon lāki, Old High German lāhhi, Gothic lēkeis; akin to Old Norse lǣknir
First recorded in 1480–90; earlier lek, leche, lyche; akin to Dutch lijk “leech, leech line,” Old Norse līk nautical term of uncertain meaning, but probably “bolt rope, leech line”
A leech is a kind of worm that feeds by sucking blood from other animals. You might find yourself needing to pull a leech off your leg after swimming in a lake. Because leeches are parasites, it's common for people to use the word as a metaphor for someone who sponges off of other people. If you have a friend who is always borrowing money but never pays it back, and who is known for requesting favors without granting them in return, you can call him a leech. The blood-sucking leech was once commonly used by doctors who treated patients by "bleeding" them, a practice that's still occasionally used in medicine today.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And I wanted to leech off of that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
After Dr. Fahmy shared her first springing leech video with other people, most recognized the jump immediately.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
It works according to the leech principle and is less invasive than taking blood from the arm with a needle.
From Science Daily ● May 2, 2024
As I inched up the rope, my arms ached, my left sock squished with blood from a leech bite, and I was marinating in sweat.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
When she got to the other side, she scrambled up a rock and picked off a leech that had managed to fasten onto her ankle.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Scott, at CEF Advisors, observes that Wamco funds have indeed faced an additional problem in the form of fallout from the Leech scandal.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
Ken Leech, the former chief investment officer of bond-fund company Western Asset Management, just pleaded guilty in a criminal court in New York to a charge of obstructing justice for giving false and misleading testimony.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
It involved Leech placing trades and then waiting until later in the day before allocating them in client accounts, after Leech saw how the trades were performing, according to prosecutors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The homelessness charity Centrepoint was named as a response to the building by founder Rev Ken Leech, who described the tower as "an affront to the homeless".
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
"Blackthumb keeps all the blades locked up, I told you that a hundred times. Is this for Lord Leech?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Under a chaotic canopy woven with vines and studded with fearsome spiked stems, the group crossed streams, waded through mud and picked off dozens of leeches.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
At age 25, Birutė Galdikas, the Canadian anthropologist, was wading through swamps riddled with parasites and leeches trying to catch a glimpse of orangutans, or, as she describes them, “survivors of Eden.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Some hematophages are well-known: For example, vampire bats in the subfamily Desmodontinae helped inspire the legendary monsters that bear their name and no one can forget blood-sucking mosquitoes and leeches.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2024
They’re tipped into a chemical solution which leeches the gold out into the liquid.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
Once, a boy called Theon Greyjoy had enjoyed tweaking Bolton as they sat at council with Robb Stark, mocking his soft voice and making japes about leeches.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
He said: "We were absolutely blown away when we saw the contents in there, as we might have expected them to have leeched out."
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2024
A federal-provincial cleanup tackled Brittania Mine, which once leeched acid into creeks.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
Unable to knuckle through cramps that compelled me to learn Lamaze breathing and heavy bleeding that leeched the life force out of me, I opted for a hysterectomy.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2022
It’s been a long road for me and Beyoncé: We’re now 20 years from the day I leeched “Bills, Bills, Bills” from Napster.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2020
"Maybe you should get leeched too. There's leeches in the Neck as big as pigs."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
By claiming to believe in demons, the vice president is leeching onto another youth trend, and probably getting a hefty boost in social media algorithms for it.
From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026
These folks were, in fact, the flimsy remnants of Cuomo’s actual base: high-status opportunists leeching off one of their own.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2025
In the meantime, Millie told the inquiry "confusion, frustration and anxiety... was leeching into my home".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2025
A trematode has a very specific life cycle, leeching onto three hosts that include a freshwater snail, a fish and then a bird or human who ate the infected fish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2025
I don’t know whether or not I will do this, but driving along I have planned it in detail even to the kind of pump, the leeching bins, the tests to determine disappearance of salinity.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
