horse-leech
See also: horse leech and horseleech
English
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horse-leech on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Etymology
[edit]From Middle English horseleche, horse leche (“horse doctor; bloodsucker, leech”), equivalent to horse + leech. The worm is so called because it commonly attacks the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals, such as horses, that drink at pools where it lives.
Noun
[edit]horse-leech (plural horse-leeches)
- A type of sucking worm, Haemopis sanguisuga, larger than the common leech.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection vi:
- Some use horse-leeches behind the ears, and apply opium to the place.
- (obsolete) A veterinarian for horses.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]Haemopis sanguisuga
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