LEECH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does leech mean? 

• LEECH (noun)
  The noun LEECH has 2 senses:

1. carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worms typically having a sucker at each end

2. a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

  Familiarity information: LEECH used as a noun is rare.

• LEECH (verb)
  The verb LEECH has 1 sense:

1. draw blood

  Familiarity information: LEECH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEECH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worms typically having a sucker at each end

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

bloodsucker; hirudinean; leech

Hypernyms ("leech" is a kind of...):

annelid; annelid worm; segmented worm (worms with cylindrical bodies segmented both internally and externally)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "leech"):

Hirudo medicinalis; medicinal leech (large European freshwater leech formerly used for bloodletting)

horseleech (any of several large freshwater leeches)

Holonyms ("leech" is a member of...):

class Hirudinea; Hirudinea (hermaphroditic aquatic or terrestrial or parasitic annelids)

Derivation:

leech (draw blood)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

leech; parasite; sponge; sponger

Hypernyms ("leech" is a kind of...):

follower (a person who accepts the leadership of another)

• LEECH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they leech    ... he / she / it leeches   
Past simple: leeched   
Past participle: leeched   
-ing form: leeching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Draw blood

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

bleed; leech; phlebotomise; phlebotomize

Context example:

In the old days, doctors routinely bled patients as part of the treatment

Hypernyms (to "leech" is one way to...):

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

Domain category:

medicine; practice of medicine (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

leech (carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worms typically having a sucker at each end)

 Context examples 

From hirudin, the active principle in the salivary secretion of leeches that acts as a potent anticoagulant (bloodthinner).

(Hirudotherapy, NCI Thesaurus)

Was it not she who was said to lay hands upon the sick and raise them from their couches when the leeches had spent their last nostrums?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But lawyers, sharks, and leeches, are not easily satisfied, you know!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A synthetic recombinant form of the naturally occurring hirudin, the anticoagulant substance found in leech.

(Desirudin, NCI Thesaurus)

He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Natural hirudin, a family of highly homologous isopolypeptides, is produced in trace amounts by the leech Hirudo medicinalis.

(Lepirudin, NCI Thesaurus)

As I turn over the pages, I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the terrible death of Crosby, the banker.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The use of leeches for medical therapy.

(Hirudotherapy, NCI Thesaurus)

Alleyne sat up on his couch with all his nerves in a tingle, uncertain whether these sounds might come from a simple cause—some sick archer and visiting leech perhaps—or whether they might have a more sinister meaning.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)