medicinal leech

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noun

a bloodsucking leech, Hirudo medicinalis, of Europe, introduced into the northeastern United States, usually green with brown stripes, up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) long: once used by physicians to bleed patients.

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Origin of medicinal leech

First recorded in 1885–90

Words nearby medicinal leech

Medici, medicide, Medici, Lorenzo de, medicinable, medicinal, medicinal leech, medicine, medicine ball, Medicine Bow Range, Medicine Bow River, medicine bundle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use medicinal leech in a sentence

The chicken, to this day, is valued for its medicinal properties.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Cruikshank often speaks about the potential of yoga to be therapeutic — even medicinal.
Yoga Is Good for You. But Is It Medicine?|DailyBurn|June 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Wikipedia has an entire entry on medicinal clays, though many are of the mud-bath variety.
You Probably Shouldn’t Try to Lose 20 Pounds by Eating Clay|Kent Sepkowitz|June 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They have long since been touted as medicinal fungi, boasting the ability to strengthen the immune system and lower cholesterol.
Mushrooms Are Magic for Women Trying to Lose Weight|Liza Gates|May 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Beginning in 2000, California funded 12-odd studies through the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, based at UC San Diego.
Are the Feds Hoarding Pot?|Steven Wishnia|April 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Poets and dramatists sung its praises, while others wrote of its wonderful medicinal qualities.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Verily, there is not a leech that sucks out the blood from the body more than these little ships do this camp of men.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
Spenser in his Fairy Queen makes one of the characters include it with other herbs celebrated for medicinal qualities.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Leech, the caricaturist,—one of the most absurdly over-rated men of this century,—was at Charterhouse from 1825 to 1831.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries|Charles G. Harper
Medicinal doses of the bromides produce in healthy persons a general diminution of nervous energy.
A Statistical Inquiry Into the Nature and Treatment of Epilepsy|Alexander Hughes Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for medicinal leech

medicinal leech

noun

a large European freshwater leech, Hirudo medicinalis, formerly used in medical bloodletting

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