horse leech

1 definition found

horse leech - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Leech \Leech\, n. [OE. leche, l[ae]che, physician, AS. l[=ae]ce;
     akin to Fries. l[=e]tza, OHG. l[=a]hh[imac], Icel.
     l[ae]knari, Sw. l[aum]kare, Dan. l[ae]ge, Goth. l[=e]keis,
     AS. l[=a]cnian to heal, Sw. l[aum]ka, Dan. l[ae]ge, Icel.
     l[ae]kna, Goth. l[=e]kin[=o]n.]
     1. A physician or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing.
        [Written also leach.] [Archaic] --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Leech, heal thyself.                  --Wyclif (Luke
                                                    iv. 23).
  
     2. (Zool.) Any one of numerous genera and species of annulose
        worms, belonging to the order Hirudinea, or Bdelloidea,
        esp. those species used in medicine, as Hirudo  medicinalis
         of Europe, and allied species.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In the mouth of bloodsucking leeches are three
           convergent, serrated jaws, moved by strong muscles. By
           the motion of these jaws a stellate incision is made in
           the skin, through which the leech sucks blood till it
           is gorged, and then drops off. The stomach has large
           pouches on each side to hold the blood. The common
           large bloodsucking leech of America (Macrobdella decora
           ) is dark olive above, and red below, with black
           spots. Many kinds of leeches are parasitic on fishes;
           others feed upon worms and mollusks, and have no jaws
           for drawing blood. See Bdelloidea. Hirudinea, and
           Clepsine.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Surg.) A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for
        drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Horse leech, a less powerful European leech (H[ae]mopis  vorax
        ), commonly attacking the membrane that lines the
        inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals that drink at
        pools where it lives.
        [1913 Webster]