different between meach vs leach

English

Etymology

See mich.

Verb

meach (third-person singular simple present meaches, present participle meaching, simple past and past participle meached)

1. To skulk; to cower.

Anagrams

• Cheam, Mache, mache, mecha, mâche

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: l?ch, IPA^(key): /li?t?/
• Homophone: leech
• Rhymes: -i?t?

Etymology 1

From Middle English leche (“leachate; sluggish stream”), from Old English *l??, *l??e (“muddy stream”), from Proto-Germanic *l?kij? (“a leak, drain, flow”)(compare Proto-Germanic *lekan? (“to leak, drain”)), from Proto-Indo-European *le?- (“to leak”). Cognate with Old English le??an (“to water, moisten”), Old English lacu (“stream, pool, pond”). More at leak, lake.

Noun

leach (plural leaches)

1. A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.
2. A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc.
   • 1894, Robert Barr, In the Midst of Alarms, ch. 7:

     "This is the leach," said Kitty, pointing to a large, yellowish, upright wooden cylinder, which rested on some slanting boards, down the surface of which ran a brownish liquid that dripped into a trough.

3. (nautical) Alternative spelling of leech.
4. A jelly-like sweetmeat popular in the fifteenth century.
   • 1670 Hannah Woolley The Queen-like Closet, Or, Rich Cabinet [1] "To make Leach and to colour it"

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English *lechen, *lecchen, from Old English le??an, from Proto-Germanic *lakjan?, from Proto-Indo-European *le?- (“to leak”).

Verb

leach (third-person singular simple present leaches, present participle leaching, simple past and past participle leached)

1. (transitive) To purge a soluble matter out of something by the action of a percolating fluid.

   Heavy rainfall can leach out minerals important for plant growth from the soil.
2. (intransitive) To part with soluble constituents by percolation.

Usage notes

Do not confuse this verb with the verb leech.

Derived terms

• leaching
• leachate

Translations

Anagrams

• Hecla, chela