Leech
[liːtʃ] or [litʃ]
Definition
(noun.) carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worms typically having a sucker at each end.
(noun.) a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage.
Inputed by Frieda--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) See 2d Leach.
(v. t.) See Leach, v. t.
(n.) The border or edge at the side of a sail.
(n.) A physician or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing.
(n.) 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.
(n.) A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.
(v. t.) To treat as a surgeon; to doctor; as, to leech wounds.
(v. t.) To bleed by the use of leeches.
Inputed by Ethel
Definition
n. a blood-sucking worm: a physician.—v.t. to apply leeches to.—ns. Leech′craft Leech′dom.
n. the edge of a sail at the sides.
Typed by Jared
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of leeches, foretells that enemies will run over your interests. If they are applied to you for medicinal purposes, you will have a serious illness tn your family (if you escape yourself). To see them applied to others, denotes sickness or trouble to friends. If they should bite you, there is danger for you in unexpected places, and you should heed well this warning.
Checker: Thomas
Examples
- Let him wander his way, said he--let those leech his wounds for whose sake he encountered them. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- The same result has followed from keeping together different varieties of the medicinal leech. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- There are no fears of poison, none of the barb which no leech's hand can extract. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- This is the man who is called by Carlyle rabid dog, atrocious, squalid, and Dog-leech--this last by way of tribute to his science. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But I tell you this:--when that young fellow's interest is concerned, he holds as tight as a horse-leech. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- As I turn over the pages, I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the terrible death of Crosby, the banker. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- And now, my kind leech, let me enquire of the news abroad. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- It's no use plying him with wide words like Expenditure: I wouldn't talk of phlebotomy, I would empty a pot of leeches upon him. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Now, you ply him with the 'Trumpet,' Humphrey; and I will put the leeches on him. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- But lawyers, sharks, and leeches, are not easily satisfied, you know! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Hardly anything real in the shop but the leeches, and _they _are second-hand. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
Inputed by Bennett