Leak Definition

lēk

leaked, leaking, leaks

verb

leaked, leaking, leaks

To permit the escape, entry, or passage of something through a breach or flaw.

Rusted pipes that were beginning to leak; a boat leaking at the seams.

American Heritage

To let a fluid substance out or in accidentally.

The kettle leaks; the boat leaks.

Webster's New World

To escape or pass through a breach or flaw.

Helium leaking slowly from the balloon.

American Heritage

To enter, or escape accidentally from, an object or container.

Webster's New World

To permit (water, air, light, radiation, etc.) to pass accidentally in or out; allow to leak.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

noun

leaks

An accidental hole or crack that lets something out or in.

Webster's New World

Any means of escape for something that ought not to be let out, lost, etc.

Webster's New World

The fact of leaking; leakage.

Webster's New World

An amount leaked.

Equipment used in cleaning up oil leaks.

American Heritage

A disclosure of secret or confidential information; specif., an ostensibly accidental disclosure by a government official to the news media, actually intended to produce an effect.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

adjective

(obsolete) Leaky.

Wiktionary

idiom

take a leak

To urinate.

American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Leak

Noun

Singular:

leak

Plural:

leaks

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Leak

take a leak

Origin of Leak

From Middle English leken (“to let water in or out"), from Middle Dutch leken (“to leak, drip") or Old Norse leka (“to leak, drip"); both from Proto-Germanic *lekanÄ… (“to leak, drain"), from Proto-Indo-European *leg-, *leǵ- (“to leak"). Cognate with Dutch lekken (“to leak"), German lechen, lecken (“to leak"), Swedish läcka (“to leak"), Icelandic leka (“to leak"). Related also to Old English leÄ‹Ä‹an (“to water, wet"), Albanian lag, lak (“I damp, make wet"). See also leach, lake.

From Wiktionary
Middle English leken probably from Middle Dutch lēken

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition