. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
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-, *leǵ- (“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 (“I damp, make wet”). See also leach, lake.
Pronunciation
Noun
leak (plural leaks)
- A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
- a leak in a roof
- a leak in a boat
- a leak in a gas pipe
- The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.
- The leak gained on the ship's pumps.
- The babies' diapers had big leaks.
- A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.
- The leaks by Chelsea Manning showed the secrets of the US military.
- The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.
- The press must have learned about the plan through a leak.
- A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation, or the point where it occurs.
- (computing) The gradual loss of a system resource caused by failure to deallocate previously reserved portions.
- resource leak
- memory leak
- (mildly vulgar, slang, especially with the verb "take") An act of urination.
- I have to take a leak.
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape
- Bulgarian: ду́пка (bg) f (dúpka), пролу́ка (bg) f (prolúka)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 漏洞 (zh) (lòudòng)
- Czech: díra (cs) f
- Danish: lækage, læk, utæthed c
- Dutch: lek (nl) n
- Esperanto: liko
- Finnish: vuoto (fi)
- French: fuite (fr), voie d’eau (fr)
- Galician: goteira f, fuga f, pingueira f
- German: undichte Stelle f, Leck (de) n
- Greek: διαρροή (el) f (diarroḯ)
- Hebrew: נְזִילָה f (nezilá)
- Hungarian: lék (hu), rés (hu), hasadék (hu), hézag (hu)
- Ido: liko (io)
- Irish: poll m
- Italian: falla (it) f, perdita (it) f, infiltrazione f, crepa (it) f, dispersione (it) f
- Japanese: 漏れ口 (もれくち, morekuchi)
- Latvian: sūce f
- Maori: takerehāia
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: lekkasje (no) m
- Persian: نشت (fa) (našt)
- Polish: przeciek (pl)
- Portuguese: vazamento (pt) m, fuga (pt) f
- Romanian: spărtură (ro) f
- Russian: течь (ru) f (tečʹ), проте́чка (ru) f (protéčka), пробо́ина (ru) f (probóina) (breach, rupture, hole), уте́чка (ru) (utéčka), отто́к (ru) (ottók)
- Spanish: gotera (es), agujero (es), rotura (es) f, vía (es) f
- Swedish: läcka (sv) c
- Tagalog: lagatak
- Welsh: twll (cy) m
|
entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture
- Arabic: تَسَرُّب m (tasarrub)
- Belarusian: вы́цек m (výcjek)
- Bulgarian: уте́чка f (utéčka)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 洩漏/泄漏 (zh) (xièlòu)
- Czech: průsak (cs) m
- Danish: lækage, læk, utæthed c
- Dutch: lek (nl) n
- Finnish: vuoto (fi)
- French: fuite (fr) f
- Galician: fuga f
- German: Leck (de) n
- Greek: διαρροή (el) f (diarroḯ)
- Hungarian: szivárgás (hu), kiszivárgás (hu), beszivárgás (hu), csepegés (hu), kiszökés, (water damage in a building from leak) beázás (hu)
- Icelandic: leki m
- Ido: liko (io)
- Irish: sceitheadh m
- Italian: fessura (it) f, falla (it) f, fuga (it) f, crepa (it) f
- Japanese: 漏れ (ja) (もれ, more), リーク (ja) (rīku)
- Korean: 누설(漏泄) (ko) (nuseol), 루설(漏泄) (ruseol) (North Korea), 리크 (rikeu)
- Latvian: sūce f, tece f
- Norwegian: lekkasje (no) m
- Polish: przeciek (pl)
- Portuguese: vazamento (pt) m
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: течь (ru) f (tečʹ), проте́чка (ru) f (protéčka), уте́чка (ru) f (utéčka)
- Spanish: pérdida (es) f
- Swedish: läcka (sv) c
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: sızıntı (tr)
- Ukrainian: ви́тік m (výtik)
|
the person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurred
Translations to be checked
Verb
leak (third-person singular simple present leaks, present participle leaking, simple past and past participle leaked)
- (transitive, intransitive) To allow fluid or gas to pass through an opening that should be sealed.
The wells are believed to have been leaking oil for decades, long after the operating company ceased to exist.
The faucet has been leaking since last month.
- (intransitive) (of a fluid or gas) To pass through an opening that should be sealed.
No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.
- (transitive, intransitive) To disclose secret information surreptitiously or anonymously.
Someone must have leaked it to our competitors that the new product will be out soon.
1987, “Man Overboard”, in Yes, Prime Minister, spoken by Bernard Wooley (Derek Fowlds):That's another of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential press briefings; you leak; he's being charged under section 2(A) of the Official Secrets Act.
- (intransitive, figurative, by extension) To pass through when it would normally or preferably be blocked.
1989, Kenneth N. Luongo, W. Thomas Wander, The Search for Security in Space, page 149:A target that is not detected would not be intercepted and thus would leak through the single defensive layer.
- (transitive, figurative, by extension) To allow anything through that would normally or preferably be blocked.
2021 February 6, Graham Bean, “Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years”, in The Scotsman:England were leaking penalties as Scotland played with pace and variety. Russell was starting to find his range and when he threaded through a grubber to Sean Maitland the winger did well to gather and keep the ball in play. Unfortunately, his pass inside just eluded Russell.
- (slang, sometimes euphemistic) To urinate.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:urinate
I had to leak in the woods since there were no toilets around.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach.
1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:Occasionally bums passed, Mexican mothers passed with children, and the prowl car came by and the cop got out to leak, but most of the time we were alone and mixing up our souls ever more and ever more till it would be terribly hard to say good-by.
- (slang, US) To bleed.
He shanked him, now he's leaking.
Derived terms
Translations
(of a container) to allow fluid to escape or enter
- Arabic: تَسَرَّبَ (tasarraba)
- Azerbaijani: axmaq (az), (su) keçirmək
- Bashkir: һыу үткәреү (hıw ütkərew), ағыу (ağıw); (faucet) тамсылыу (tamsılıw), ағыу (ağıw)
- Bulgarian: пропускам (bg) (propuskam)
- Cherokee: ᎬᎫᏍᎦ (gvgusga)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 漏 (lau6)
- Mandarin: 洩漏/泄漏 (zh) (xièlòu), 漏 (zh) (lòu)
- Cornish: devera
- Danish: lække
- Dutch: lekken (nl)
- Esperanto: liki
- Finnish: vuotaa (fi)
- French: fuir (fr)
- German: (ship, pipe) lecken (de), (faucet) tropfen (de)
- Greek: διαρρέω (el) (diarréo)
- Hungarian: (intransitive) szivárog (hu), ereszt (hu), (transitive) átereszt (hu)
- Ido: likar (io)
- Indonesian: bocor (id)
- Ingrian: nestää, mehtää
- Italian: perdere (it), percolare (it)
- Japanese: 漏れる (ja) (もれる, moreru)
- Korean: 새다 (ko) (saeda)
- Latin: pereo
- Malayalam: ചോരുക (ml) (cōruka)
- Maori: papī, turuturu, mapi
- Mongolian: гоожих (mn) (goožix)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: lekke (no), ta inn vann (no)
- Polish: (np. o dachu) przeciekać (pl)
- Portuguese: vazar (pt)
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: течь (ru) impf (tečʹ), протека́ть (ru) impf (protekátʹ)
- Spanish: gotear (es), perder (es), chorrear (es), filtrar (es)
- Swedish: läcka (sv)
- Thai: รั่ว (th) (rûua)
- Turkish: sızdırmak (tr)
- Vietnamese: làm rò rỉ
- Welsh: gollwng (cy)
|
(of a fluid or gas) to pass through an opening that should be sealed
Translations to be checked
Adjective
leak (comparative more leak, superlative most leak)
- (obsolete) Leaky.
References
Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Verb
leak
- singular imperative of leaken
- (colloquial) first-person singular present of leaken