Word.ws English Dictionary

leechcraft

leechcraft noun: the art or practice of healing or medicine.

Noun

leechcraft (usually uncountable, plural leechcrafts)

  1. (historical, usually) The art or practice of healing or medicine.
    • The course of his adventures at length conducted him to Scotland, where he followed his leechcraft with similar success.1861, David Irving, John Aitken Carlyle, David Laing, The history of Scotish poetry
    • The earliest was Apollo, and his son Aesculapius, and Asclepios; and Asclepios was uncle of Hippocrates ; these four earliest invented the building up of leechcrafts about fifteen hundred years after Noah's flood in the days of Artaxerxes, who was king of the Persians; [...]1904, Joseph Frank Payne, English Medicine in the Anglo-Saxon Times
  2. (usually) The skill or expertise of a physician, medical knowledge; medical attendance.
    • Smitten with apprehension, I crawled unto the cell of one of the brethren, renowned for his leechcraft; [...]1829, Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances), Hungarian tales
    • She had long ago accepted his disapproval, but she had perfect trust in him and his leechcraft as she had had at Hugh's bedside in Bordeaux.1981, Anya Seton, Katherine

Examples of leechcraft in a sentence

  • Our villain, who may or may not be 'Dr James', knows his Latin but not - if I may so phrase it - his leechcraft."2003, David Langford, He Do the Time Police in Different Voices:
  • According to Geoffrey and Layamon it is through his “leechcraft” that he is able to make Uther look like Gorlois.2007, Jessica V. Tomaselli, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. English, The coexistence of paganism and Christianity in the Arthurian...
  • He proposed that Olav Audunsson should move down to his house and submit himself to his leechcraft.1995, Sigrid Undset, In the Wilderness:

Synonyms of leechcraft

Forms of leechcraft

pluralleechcrafts

Origin of leechcraft

From Middle English lechecraft (“practise of medicine”), from Old English lǣċecræft (“medicine”), equivalent to leech + -craft. More at leech, craft.

Questions about leechcraft

What does leechcraft mean?
Leechcraft means the art or practice of healing or medicine.
How do you use leechcraft in a sentence?
Our villain, who may or may not be 'Dr James', knows his Latin but not - if I may so phrase it - his leechcraft."
What part of speech is leechcraft?
Leechcraft is a noun.
What is the plural of leechcraft?
The plural of leechcraft is leechcrafts.

Words near leechcraft in the dictionary

  1. leech lines
  2. leech-finger
  3. leech-fingers
  4. leechbook
  5. leechbooks
  6. leechcraft
  7. leechcrafts
  8. leechdom
  9. leechdoms
  10. leeched
  11. leechee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leechcraft (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “leechcraft.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leechcraft. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.