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- Dictionaryleech/liːtʃ/
noun
- 1. an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, especially of vertebrates, and others are predators.
- 2. a person who extorts profit from or sponges on others: "they are leeches feeding off the hard-working majority"
verb
- 1. habitually exploit or rely on: "he's leeching off the abilities of others"
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LEECH definition: 1. a type of worm that lives in wet places and fastens itself onto the bodies of humans and animals…. Learn more.
The meaning of LEECH is any of numerous carnivorous or bloodsucking usually freshwater annelid worms (class Hirudinea) that have typically a flattened lanceolate segmented body with a sucker at each end.
A leech is a small animal which looks like a worm and lives in water. Leeches feed by attaching themselves to other animals and sucking their blood.
Any of various worms that live in water and suck blood from other animals, including humans. One species, the medicinal leech, has been used in bloodletting and in helping to heal wounds and surgical grafts. Leeches are annelids, related to earthworms.
Leech definition: any bloodsucking or carnivorous aquatic or terrestrial worm of the class Hirudinea, certain freshwater species of which were formerly much used in medicine for bloodletting.. See examples of LEECH used in a sentence.
noun. leeches. Any of a subclass (Hirudinea) of mostly flattened, annelid worms living in water or wet earth and having a well-developed sucker at each end: most are bloodsuckers, and one species (Hirudo medicinalis) has been used in medicine, esp. in former times, to bleed patients. Webster's New World. Similar definitions. A physician.
Definition of leech noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
A leech is a small animal which looks like a worm and lives in water. Leeches feed by attaching themselves to other animals and sucking their blood. [...]
A leech is a kind of worm that feeds by sucking blood from other animals. You might find yourself needing to pull a leech off your leg after swimming in a lake. Because leeches are parasites, it's common for people to use the word as a metaphor for someone who sponges off of other people.
leech stresses persistence in clinging to or bleeding another for one's own advantage <a leech living off his family and friends>. sponge stresses the parasitic laziness, dependence, and opportunism of the cadger <a shiftless sponge, always looking for a handout>.
