leach

Meanings

Noun

• A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.
• A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc.
• Alternate spelling of leech.
• A jelly-like sweetmeat popular in the fifteenth century.

Verb

• To purge a soluble matter out of something by the action of a percolating fluid.
• To part with soluble constituents by percolation.

Origin

• From Middle English leche, from Old English *lǣċ, *lǣċe, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijō
• (compare Proto-Germanic *lekaną), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-. Cognate with Old English leċċan ("to water, moisten"), Old English lacu ("stream, pool, pond"). More at leak, lake.
• From Middle English *lechen, *lecchen, from Old English leċċan, from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-.