leeches

Noun (1)

leech (plural leeches)

1. A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
   • The leech on his leg had swelled to more than five inches long, puffed and swollen on his blood.2003, William W. Johnstone, The Last Of The Dog Team, page 195
2. (figuratively) A person who derives advantage from others in a parasitic fashion.
   • 'Wrecked his body and his mind, no use to hisself or his family or nobody, just a leech on society'.2000, Ray Garmon, The Man Who Just Didn't Care, page 20

   Synonyms:

   parasite

3. (dated) A glass tube designed for drawing blood from damaged tissue by means of a vacuum.

Noun (2)

leech (plural leeches)

1. (archaic) A physician.
   • Many skillful leeches him abide to salve his hurts.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   barber, doctor, physician

2. (Germanic) A healer.
   • 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 exorcist1900, Augustus Henry Keane, Man, Past and Present, Cambridge: The University Press

   Synonyms:

   healer

Noun (3)

leech (plural leeches)

1. The vertical edge of a square sail.
   • To help combat these problems, almost all sailmakers trim the leeches of their headsails to a hollow or concave profile and enclose a LEECHLINE within the leech tabling.1984, Sven Donaldson, A Sailor's Guide to Sails, page 130

See all 11 meanings of leech