Leach \Leach\, n. [Written also {letch}.] [Cf. As. le['a]h lye, G. lauge. See {Lye}.] 1. A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.
2. A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc.
{Leach tub}, a wooden tub in which ashes are leached.
Leach \Leach\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Leached}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Leaching}.] [Written also leech and letch.] 1. To remove the soluble constituents from by subjecting to the action of percolating water or other liquid; as, to leach ashes or coffee.
2. To dissolve out; -- often used with out; as, to leach out alkali from ashes.
Leach \Leach\, v. i. To part with soluble constituents by percolation.
Leach \Leach\, n. See {Leech}, a physician. [Obs.]
Leech \Leech\, n. [Cf. LG. leik, Icel. l[=i]k, Sw. lik boltrope, st[*a]ende liken the leeches.] (Naut.) The border or edge at the side of a sail. [Written also {leach}.]
{Leech line}, a line attached to the leech ropes of sails, passing up through blocks on the yards, to haul the leeches by. --Totten.
{Leech rope}, that part of the boltrope to which the side of a sail is sewed.
Leech \Leech\, n. [OE. leche, l[ae]che, physician, AS. l[=ae]ce; akin to Fries. l[=e]tza, OHG. l[=a]hh[=i], Icel. l[ae]knari, Sw. l["a]kare, Dan. l[ae]ge, Goth. l[=e]keis, AS. l[=a]cnian to heal, Sw. l["a]ka, Dan. l[ae]ge, Icel. l[ae]kna, Goth. l[=e]kin[=o]n.] 1. A physician or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing. [Written also {leach}.] [Archaic] --Spenser.
Leech, heal thyself. --Wyclif (Luke iv. 23).
2. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous genera and species of annulose worms, belonging to the order {Hirudinea}, or Bdelloidea, esp. those species used in medicine, as {Hirudo medicinalis} of Europe, and allied species.
Note: In the mouth of bloodsucking leeches are three convergent, serrated jaws, moved by strong muscles. By the motion of these jaws a stellate incision is made in the skin, through which the leech sucks blood till it is gorged, and then drops off. The stomach has large pouches on each side to hold the blood. The common large bloodsucking leech of America ({Macrobdella decora}) is dark olive above, and red below, with black spots. Many kinds of leeches are parasitic on fishes; others feed upon worms and mollusks, and have no jaws for drawing blood. See {Bdelloidea}. {Hirudinea}, and {Clepsine}.
3. (Surg.) A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.
{Horse leech}, a less powerful European leech ({H[ae]mopis vorax}), commonly attacking the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals that drink at pools where it lives.
The inert ceramic materials are efficient in removing lead and don't leach any impurities into the water they are supposed to purify, he said.
EPA has required Monsanto to undertake new studies of groundwater, into which it says alachlor can leach.
A federal judge lifted that injunction in December, allowing the company to begin selling the patches, which leach nicotine into the skin in gradually decreasing doses over ten weeks to wean smokers from cravings for the drug.
Even the drip-irrigation facility is buried below the surface of the heap of ore on the leach pad. All this obviously helps to protect birds and other wildlife.
Bacteria are being used to leach metals from poor quality ores, to decrease potentially dangerous levels of methane gas in coal mines and to enhance oil recovery, Ivanov said.