horse-leech

Meaning

Noun

• A veterinarian for horses.
• A type of sucking worm, Haemopis sanguisuga, larger than the common leech.

Origin

• From Middle English horseleche, horse leche, equivalent to horse + leech.
• So called because it commonly attacks the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals, such as horses, that drink at pools where it lives.