leech

[leech]

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noun

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.

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

to hang on to a person in the manner of a leech: She leeched on to him for dear life.

Origin of leech

before 900; Middle English leche, Old English lǣce; replacing (by confusion with leech²) Middle English liche, Old English lȳce; cognate with Middle Dutch lieke; akin to Old English lūcan to pull out, Middle High German liechen to pull

Related formsleech·like, adjective

Synonyms for leech

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2. bloodsucker; extortioner; sponger.

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

Related Words for leeching

trickle, weep, ooze, drain, squeeze, stick, bumming, leeching, sponging, run, seep, shed, gush, spurt, hemorrhage, exude, leech, phlebotomize, exhaust, fleece

Examples from the Web for leeching

Contemporary Examples of leeching

Improper burial, Dove says, could mean that harmful bacteria are leeching into the waterways.
Aporkalypse Now: Pig-Killing Virus Could Mean the End of Bacon
Carrie Arnold
August 20, 2014
And not just in our air or leeching into our ocean, but potentially showing up on our plate.
Radioactive Tuna Won’t Kill You—but Should We Be Concerned About Mercury?
Daniel Stone
May 30, 2012

Historical Examples of leeching

Then Leeching, after loading his pistol, went to work with his comrade for an hour or so.
The Golden Butterfly
Walter Besant
Leeching, however, is seldom needed, a hypodermic injection of morphia generally sufficing to relieve the pain.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II
Various
Leeching and blistering, and subsequently massage, pulled him through, but left him weak and querulous.
Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. I (of II)
Edmund Downey
Should the pain not subside, leeching must be had free recourse to, or blood be drawn by cupping.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II
Arnold Cooley
No wonder gout was a common disease, and the overheated blood needed to be reduced by cupping and leeching.
The Colonial Cavalier
Maud Wilder Goodwin

British Dictionary definitions for leeching

leech

noun

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 animalsSee also horseleech, medicinal leech
a person who clings to or preys on another person
1. an archaic word for physician
2. (in combination)leechcraft
cling like a leech to cling or adhere persistently to something

verb

(tr) to use leeches to suck the blood of (a person), as a method of medical treatment

Derived Formsleechlike, adjective

Word Origin for leech

Old English lǣce, lœce; related to Middle Dutch lieke

leech

leach

noun

nautical the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail or either of the vertical edges of a squaresail

Word Origin for leech

C15: of Germanic origin; compare Dutch lijk

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 leeching

leech

n.1

"bloodsucking aquatic worm," from Old English læce (Kentish lyce), of unknown origin (with a cognate in Middle Dutch lake). Commonly regarded as a transferred use of leech (n.2), but the Old English forms suggest a distinct word, which has been assimilated to leech (n.2) by folk etymology [see OED]. Figuratively applied to human parasites since 1784.

leech

n.2

obsolete for "physician," from Old English læce, probably from Old Danish læke, from Proto-Germanic *lekjaz "enchanter, one who speaks magic words; healer, physician" (cf. Old Frisian letza, Old Saxon laki, Old Norse læknir, Old High German lahhi, Gothic lekeis "physician"), literally "one who counsels," perhaps connected with a root found in Celtic (cf. Irish liaig "charmer, exorcist, physician") and Slavic (cf. Serbo-Croatian lijekar, Polish lekarz), from PIE *lep-agi "conjurer," from root *leg- "to collect," with derivatives meaning "to speak" (see lecture (n.)).

For sense development, cf. Old Church Slavonic baliji "doctor," originally "conjurer," related to Serbo-Croatian bajati "enchant, conjure;" Old Church Slavonic vrači, Russian vrač "doctor," related to Serbo-Croatian vrač "sorcerer, fortune-teller." The form merged with leech (n.1) in Middle English, apparently by folk etymology. In 17c., leech usually was applied only to veterinary practitioners. The fourth finger of the hand, in Old English, was læcfinger, translating Latin digitus medicus, Greek daktylus iatrikos, supposedly because a vein from that finger stretches straight to the heart.

leeching in Medicine

leech

[lēch]

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.

To bleed with leeches.