Link Centre Dictionary

leak

UK/liːk/ US/ˈlik/ common slang us
noun (5) verb (4)

noun

1.

an accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape

  • “one of the tires developed a leak”
2.

soft watery rot in fruits and vegetables caused by fungi

3.

a euphemism for urination

  • “he had to take a leak”
Synonyms
4.

the unwanted discharge of a fluid from some container

  • “they tried to stop the escape of gas from the damaged pipe”
  • “he had to clean up the leak”
Synonyms
5.

verb

1.

tell anonymously

  • “The news were leaked to the paper”
2.

be leaked

  • “The news leaked out despite his secrecy”
Synonyms
3.

enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure

  • “Water leaked out of the can into the backpack”
  • “Gas leaked into the basement”
4.

have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out

  • “The container leaked gasoline”
  • “the roof leaks badly”

Origin

From Middle English leken (“to let water in or out”), from Old English *lecan (“to leak”), Middle Dutch leken (“to leak, drip”) or Old Norse leka (“to leak, drip”); all from Proto-Germanic *lekaną (“to leak, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak”). Cognate with Dutch lekken (“to leak”), German lechen, lecken (“to leak”), Danish lække (“to leak”), Swedish läcka (“to leak”), Norwegian Bokmål lekke (“to leak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk leka (“to leak”). Related also to Old English leċċan (“to water, wet”), Albanian lag, lak (“to damp, make wet”). See also leach, lake. (divulgation, disclosure of information): Compare typologically Bulgarian изтичане (iztičane), Polish przeciek, Russian уте́чка (utéčka) (akin to течь impf or f (tečʹ)).

Phrases

  • data leak
  • gas leak
  • lambda leak
  • leak like a sieve
  • leak out
  • memory leak
  • non-verbal leak
  • routing leak
  • spring a leak
  • take a leak

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Entails

Causes

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.