leach¹ Definition
leach (lēc̸h)
transitive verb
- to cause (a liquid) to filter down through some material
- to subject to the washing action of a filtering liquid wood ashes are leached to extract lye
- to extract (a soluble substance) from some material by causing water to filter down through the material lye is leached from wood ashes
Etymology: prob. < OE leccan, to water, irrigate, orig. a caus. form of base akin to ON leka: see leak
intransitive verb
- to lose soluble matter as a result of the filtering through of water soil that has leached badly
- to dissolve and be washed away
noun
- the action of leaching
- a sievelike container used in leaching
- leachate
leach¹ Related Forms
leach² Definition
leach (lēc̸h)
leach Synonyms
Leach Hacker Definition
Following the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998 and particularly since 2004, violators of copyright law have been taken to court by the recording industry for infringement of the Acta form of leaching. Many of those targeted by the recording industry included U.S. students who downloaded music from Napster and shared files with their friends for free, depriving the recording artists of their royalties and failing to give back to the entertainment community. The courts generally made each of the student violators pay thousands of dollars in damages.
See Also: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); Napster; Warez Software.
leach Usage Examples
Object
- calcium: Animal protein is high in sulfur which can leach calcium from the bones and form painful kidney stones.
- nutrient: Deep rooted crops bring leached nutrients up to the surface soil where they become available to the next generation crop.
- soil: In areas of very high rainfall such as the High Fells of the Lake District these heavily leached soils are known as rankers.
- chemical: It does not leach any chemicals into the soil or water.
- loss: Future studies are planned to measure or estimate leaching losses.
- behavior: Standard leaching tests are largely not capable of evaluating the long term leaching behavior of AFBC residues at disposal sites.
Preposition: through
soil: BERTIE will have just enough nitrogen to grow to maturity and leave no excess that might later leach through the soil.
Preposition: into
- groundwater: The latter also had greater environmental impacts - 60 % more nitrate leached into groundwater over a 5-year period than in the organic systems.
- soil: It is harmful to people and animals and leaches into soil.
- water: Metal ores The presence of metal ores in areas where waters are acidic can cause toxicity problems as the metals leach into the water.
Modifies a noun
process: All the known deposits in the county were visited, sampled and tested for their reaction to our heap leach process.
Modifying Another Word
- away: If added in the autumn a lot of the " goodness " is leached away over the winter, particularly the nitrogen.
- easily: Most garden soils contain plenty of nutrients, apart from nitrogen which is easily leached out of the soil.
- not: Despite popular myth these pigments do not leach out of the birds ' plumage in heavy rain!
- also: This will have also leached down through the tumbled masonry to form at the base of the deposits.
- readily: In contrast, the protein is more readily leached through soil with lower clay concentrations, indicating that it could contaminate groundwater.
Noun used with modifier
heap: All the known deposits in the county were visited, sampled and tested for their reaction to our heap leach process.
Preposition: of
- nitrate: The highest N gifts resulted in a yield reduction ( leaching of nitrate ).
- nutrient: Succession on dunes is mainly the result of the buildup of soil humus under increasingly sheltered conditions, combined with leaching of nutrients.
Preposition: from
soil: The excess nitrogen leaches from the soil into underground reservoirs - the source of much of our water supply.
Browse dictionary entries near leach
- leachate ›
- leachy ›
- Leacock ›
- lead ›
- lead acetate ›
- lead arsenate ›
- lead balloon ›
- lead colic ›
- lead glass ›
- lead-in ›

