leacher

Variant of leach

transitive verb

  1. to cause (a liquid) to filter down through some material
  2. to subject to the washing action of a filtering liquid: wood ashes are leached to extract lye
  3. to extract (a soluble substance) from some material by causing water to filter down through the material: lye is leached from wood ashes

Origin: prob. < OE leccan, to water, irrigate, orig. a caus. form of base akin to ON leka: see leak

intransitive verb

  1. to lose soluble matter as a result of the filtering through of water: soil that has leached badly
  2. to dissolve and be washed away

noun

  1. the action of leaching
  2. a sievelike container used in leaching
  3. leachate

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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