English Explanatory Dictionary

leak

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
  2. The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.
  3. A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.
  4. The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.
  5. A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation, or the point where it occurs.
  6. The gradual loss of a system resource caused by failure to deallocate previously reserved portions.
  7. An act of urination.
verb
  1. To allow fluid or gas to pass through an opening that should be sealed.
  2. (of a fluid or gas) To pass through an opening that should be sealed.
  3. To disclose secret information surreptitiously or anonymously.
  4. To pass through when it would normally or preferably be blocked.
  5. To allow anything through that would normally or preferably be blocked.
  6. To urinate.
  7. To bleed.
adj
  1. Leaky.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

lēk /liːk/ en-us-leak.ogg

Word forms

leak leaks leaking leaked more leak most leak

Etymology

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”), Icelandic 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)).

Synonyms

break the seal hit the head micturate pass water pee piddle piss slash take a leak take a piss take a whiz tinkle urinate void wee wee wee widdle whiz

Related words

leach

Derived words

antileak data leak endoleak gas leak inleak lambda leak leakage Leakgate leakless leak-proof leakproof leaktivism leaky megaleak memory leak microleak non-verbal leak routing leak spring a leak superleak take a leak Vatileaks aleak leakable leakee leaker leak like a sieve leak out nonleaking overleak unleaking

Translations

Arabic: تَسَرَّبَ Azerbaijani: axmaq Azerbaijani: (su) keçirmək Bashkir: һыу үткәреү Bashkir: ағыу Bashkir: тамсылыу Bulgarian: пропускам Bulgarian: изтичам Cherokee: ᎬᎫᏍᎦ Chinese Cantonese: 漏 Chinese Mandarin: 洩漏 /泄漏 Chinese Mandarin: 漏 Cornish: devera Danish: lække Dutch: lekken Esperanto: liki Finnish: vuotaa French: fuir German: lecken German: tropfen Greek: διαρρέω Hawaiian: kulu Hindi: रिसना Hindi: रिसाव Hungarian: szivárog Hungarian: ereszt Hungarian: átereszt Hungarian: csepeg Hungarian: szökik Hungarian: folyik Ido: likar Indonesian: bocor Ingrian: nestää Ingrian: mehtää Italian: perdere Italian: percolare Italian: trapelare Japanese: 漏れる Korean: 새다 Latin: pereo Malay: bocor Malayalam: ചോരുക Māori: turu Māori: turuturu Māori: papī Māori: mapi Māori: pahī Māori: komama Mongolian: гоожих Norwegian Bokmål: lekke Norwegian Bokmål: ta inn vann Polish: (np. o dachu) przeciekać Polish: przeciec Polish: ulatniać Polish: ulotnić Portuguese: vazar Russian: течь Russian: протека́ть Serbo-Croatian: curiti Spanish: gotear Spanish: perder Spanish: chorrear Spanish: filtrar Spanish: liquear Spanish: escapar Spanish: fugar Spanish: tener una fuga Spanish: tener fugas Spanish: salírsele Spanish: percolar Spanish: filtrarse Swedish: läcka Thai: รั่ว Turkish: sızdırmak Turkish: sızmak Unami: wëntpe Unami: psëntpe Vietnamese: làm rò rỉ
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