leeching

Verb (1)

leech (third-person singular simple present leeches, present participle leeching, simple past and past participle leeched)

1. (literally, transitive) To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient.
   • This had to be leeched, and lanced, and doctored with ointments and poultices for several weeks, till I was almost driven to despair, - for the weather was at length fine, and I was tantalized by seeing grand butterflies flying past my door, and thinking of the twenty or thirty new species of...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 316
2. (figuratively, transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back.
   • Near-synonyms: mooch, suck down

   Synonyms:

   mooch, suck down

Verb (2)

leech (third-person singular simple present leeches, present participle leeching, simple past and past participle leeched)

1. (archaic, rare) To treat, cure or heal.
   • Paid for leeching.. my horses very sick.1564, Accounts of Louth Corporalː

   Synonyms:

   treat, cure, heal

See all 11 meanings of leech