leak
pronunciation
How to pronounce leak in British English:
UK [liːk]
How to pronounce leak in American English:
US [liːk]
-
- Noun:
- an accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape
- soft watery rot in fruits and vegetables caused by fungi
- a euphemism for urination
- the unwanted discharge of a fluid from some container
- unauthorized (especially deliberate) disclosure of confidential information
-
- Verb:
- tell anonymously
- be leaked
- enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure
- have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out
Word Origin
- leak
- leak: [15] The ultimate source of leak is probably a prehistoric Germanic *lek-, which denoted ‘deficiency’ (a variant *lak- gave English lack). It is not clear how this reached English; it could have been via Old Norse leka, or through Middle Dutch lēken.=> lack
- leak (v.)
- "to let water in or out" [Johnson], late 14c., from Middle Dutch leken "to drip, to leak," or from Old Norse leka, both of them related to Old English leccan "to moisten" (which did not survive into Middle English), all from Proto-Germanic *lek- "deficiency" (cognates: Old High German lecchen "to become dry," German lechzen "to be parched with thirst"), from PIE root *leg- "to dribble, trickle." The figurative meaning "come to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" dates from at least 1832; transitive sense first recorded 1859. Related: Leaked; leaking.
- leak (n.)
- late 15c., from leak (v.) or Old Norse cognate leki. Sense of "revelation of secret information" is from 1950. Meaning "act of urination" is attested from 1934 ("Tropic of Cancer"); but the verb meaning "to piss" is from 1590s: "Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney." ["I Hen. IV," II.i.22]
Example
- 1. But first it needs to plug the leak .
- 2. Japan government confirms radiation leak at fukushima nuclear plant .
- 3. Our faces leak split-second expressions that reveal our true feelings .
- 4. Other oddities leak out from the books and the memoirs .
- 5. Wiretaps in a subsequent leak investigation have prompted even fiercer rows .