leach

10 definitions found

leach - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Leach \Leach\, n. (Naut.)
     See 3d Leech.
     [1913 Webster]

  Leach \Leach\, n. [Written also letch.] [Cf. As. le['a]h lye,
     G. lauge. See Lye.]
     1. A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and
        thus imbibes the alkali.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Leach tub, a wooden tub in which ashes are leached.
        [1913 Webster]

  Leach \Leach\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leached; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Leaching.] [Written also leech and letch.]
     1. To remove the soluble constituents from by subjecting to
        the action of percolating water or other liquid; as, to
        leach ashes or coffee.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To dissolve out; -- often used with out; as, to leach out
        alkali from ashes.
        [1913 Webster]

  Leach \Leach\, v. i.
     To part with soluble constituents by percolation.
     [1913 Webster]

  Leach \Leach\, n.
     See Leech, a physician. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

  Leech \Leech\, n. [Cf. LG. leik, Icel. l[imac]k, Sw. lik
     boltrope, st[*a]ende liken the leeches.] (Naut.)
     The border or edge at the side of a sail. [Written also
     leach.]
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Leech line, a line attached to the leech ropes of sails,
        passing up through blocks on the yards, to haul the
        leeches by. --Totten.
  
     Leech rope, that part of the boltrope to which the side of
        a sail is sewed.
        [1913 Webster]

  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.
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              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]

leach - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  leach
      n 1: the process of leaching [syn: leach, leaching]
      v 1: cause (a liquid) to leach or percolate
      2: permeate or penetrate gradually; "the fertilizer leached into
         the ground" [syn: leach, percolate]
      3: remove substances from by a percolating liquid; "leach the
         soil" [syn: leach, strip]

leach - U.S. Gazetteer (1990) :

  Leach, OK
    Zip code(s): 74364

leach - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  137 Moby Thesaurus words for "leach":
     abate, abrade, abstract, bate, bathe, bleed, bolt, brew,
     chemical solution, clarify, clear, colliquate, condense, curtail,
     cut, decoagulate, decoct, decoction, decrassify, decrease, deduct,
     deliquesce, depreciate, depurate, derogate, detract, diminish,
     discharge, disparage, dissolve, distill, douche, drain, drench,
     dribble, drip, dripple, drop, drouk, eat away, edulcorate, effuse,
     elute, emit, erode, essentialize, excrete, exfiltrate, extract,
     extravasate, exudate, exude, file away, filter, filtrate, fluidify,
     fluidize, flush, flux, fuse, give off, gurgle, hold in solution,
     imbrue, imbue, impair, impregnate, infiltrate, infuse, infusion,
     inject, lave, leachate, lessen, liquefy, liquesce, liquidize,
     lixiviate, lixivium, macerate, melt, melt down, mixture, ooze,
     percolate, permeate, purify, rectify, reduce, reek, refine, remove,
     retrench, rinse, rub away, run, saturate, screen, seep, seethe,
     separate, shorten, sieve, sift, soak, sodden, solubilize, solution,
     solve, sop, souse, spiritualize, spurtle, steep, strain, subduct,
     sublimate, sublime, subtract, sweat, take away, take from, thaw,
     thin, thin out, transpire, transude, trickle, try, unclot, wash,
     waterlog, wear away, weed, weep, winnow, withdraw