leech

Definition

An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.

Etymology

From Middle English leche (“blood-sucking worm”), from Old English lǣċe (“blood-sucking worm”), akin to Middle Dutch lāke ("blood-sucking worm"; > modern Dutch laak).

Example Sentences

• "The leech on his leg had swelled to more than five inches long, puffed and swollen on his blood."
• "'Wrecked his body and his mind, no use to hisself or his family or nobody, just a leech on society'."
• "At this point, I felt this man was a leech. I suspected that he had spent a lifetime living off the good will of women that he met."