noun

1. Archaic a physician
2. any of a subclass (Hirudinea) of mostly flattened, annelid worms living in water or wet earth and having a well-developed sucker at each end: most are bloodsuckers, and one species (Hirudo medicinalis) has been used in medicine, esp. in former times, to bleed patients
3. a person who clings to another to gain some personal advantage; parasite

Etymology: ME leche < OE læce, akin to OHG lāhhi, Goth lēkeis, magician, healer, OE lacnian, to heal, prob. < IE base *le-, collect, gather together > L lex (see legal); leechsense is supposedly same word (from use in medicine), but OE (Kentish) lyce, ME liche, MDu lieke suggest different word assimilated by folk etym.

transitive verb

1. Obsolete to heal
2. to apply leeches to; bleed with leeches
3. to cling to (another) as a parasite; drain dry

intransitive verb

noun

1. the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail
2. either of the vertical edges of a square sail

Etymology: LME lyche, akin to ON lik < Du lijk, boltrope < IE base *lei-, to bind, fasten > L ligare, to tie