leech¹ / lēch/ • n. 1. an aquatic or terrestrial annelid (class Hirudinea) with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, esp. of vertebrates, and others are predators. 2. a person who extorts profit from or sponges on others.• v. [intr.] habitually exploit or rely on: he's leeching off the abilities of others.leech² • n. archaic a doctor or healer.leech³ • n. Sailing the after or leeward edge of a fore-and-aft sail, the leeward edge of a spinnaker, or a vertical edge of a square sail.

LEECH

LEECH (Heb. עֲלוּקָה, av, jps: "horseleech"), blood-sucking worm. The aphorism in the Book of Proverbs (30:15) that "the leech hath two daughters: 'Give, give'" refers to the two sucking disks on its head with which it adheres to its prey and sucks its blood. In several places in Israel the Nile leech – Limnatis nilotica – is found in springs and bodies of water and, attaching itself to men or beasts when these wash in or drink from the water, sucks their blood. Because of this the Talmud warns against drinking water directly from rivers and pools (Av. Zar. 12b), an instance being cited of a man who swallowed a leech in this way; for which various remedies are suggested (tj, Ber. 9:3, 13c). The medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis is not naturally present in Israel and it is doubtful whether it was known in biblical times.

bibliography:

Lewysohn, Zool, 336, no. 467; J. Feliks, The Animal World of the Bible (1962), 140.

[Jehuda Feliks]

leech1 a term (now archaic or humorous) for a doctor or healer. Recorded from Old English, the word was later often understood as a transferred use of leech2, sometimes with an indication of rapacity.

Leechcraft is similarly used for the art of healing.

leech2 an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, especially of vertebrates (leeches were traditionally used in medicine to draw off blood) and others are predators, giving rise to the transferred sense of a person who extorts profit from or sponges on others (see also horseleech).

leech (leech) n. a type of worm that possesses suckers at both ends of its body. Certain parasitic species suck blood from animals and humans, causing irritation and, occasionally, infection. Formerly widely used for bloodletting, the medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) may now be used following microsurgery to restore patency to blocked or collapsed blood vessels.