leech
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology 1
From Middle English leche (“blood-sucking worm”), from Old English lǣċe (“blood-sucking worm”), akin to Middle Dutch lāke (Flemish laak, “blood-sucking worm”).
[edit] Noun
leech (plural leeches)
- An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of class Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
- A person who derives profit from others, in a parasitic fashion.
[edit] Translations
|
|
|
[edit] Verb
leech (third-person singular simple present leeches, present participle leeching, simple past and past participle leeched)
- (transitive) To apply a leech medicinally.
- (transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back.
- Bert leeched hundreds of files from the BBS, but never uploaded anything in return.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Etymology 2
From Middle English leche (“physician”), from Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz (“doctor”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēg(')- (“doctor”). Cognate with Old Frisian lētza (“physician”), Old Saxon lāki (“physician”), Old High German lāhhi (“doctor, healer”), Danish læge (“doctor, surgeon”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lekeis, “physician”), Old Irish líaig (“exorcist, doctor”).
[edit] Noun
leech (plural leeches)
- (archaic) A physician.
- 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 11:
- He coughed sputum stained with blood, and a scraping, crackling noise came from his chest, quite audible to anyone in the room. ‘Lungs possibly not too good,’ the leech said.
- 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 11:
- (paganism) A healer in Heathenry.
- (Can we date this quote?) Swain Wodening, “Scandinavian Craft Lesson 6: Runic Divination”, Theod Magazine, volume 3, number 4
- In ancient times runesters were a specialized class separate from that of the witch or ordinary spell caster (much as the other specialists such as the leech or healer and the seithkona were different from a witch), and even today many believe it takes years of training to become adept at using the runes in spell work.
- 1900, Augustus Henry Keane, Man, Past and Present, The University Press (Cambridge)
- Their functions are threefold, those of the medicine-man (the leech, or healer by supernatural means); of the soothsayer (the prophet through communion with the invisible world); and of the priest, especially in his capacity as exorcist
- 2003, Brian Froud and Ari Berk, The Runes of Elfland, Pavillion Books, ISBN 1 86205 647 1, page 22
- "Leech?" "Not another doctor".
- 2004, Runic John, The Book of Seithr, Capall Bann Publishing, ISBN 186163 299 0, page 282
- There are many kinds of "Leech" or "healer" as there are healing techniques, some are more powerful than others and some are very specific to certain illnesses and complaints; some use potions and unguents, others crystals and stones, others galdr and some work their healing from within the hidden realms themselves.
- (Can we date this quote?) Swain Wodening, “Scandinavian Craft Lesson 6: Runic Divination”, Theod Magazine, volume 3, number 4
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Etymology 3
Middle English lek, leche, lyche, from Old Norse lík ‘leech-line’, from Proto-Germanic *līkan (compare West Frisian lyk ‘band’, Dutch lijk ‘boltrope’, Middle High German geleich ‘joint, limb’), from Proto-Indo-European *leiĝ- ‘to bind’ (compare Latin ligare ‘to tie’, Ukrainian налигати (nalýhaty, “to bridle, fetter”), Albanian lidh ‘to bind’).
[edit] Noun
leech
[edit] Translations
|
|
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
[edit] See also
[edit] West Frisian
[edit] Adjective
leech
-
- "De opfreeche side titel wie ûnjildich, leech, of in miskeppele." (The requested page title was invalid, empty or improperly linked.)
