leak

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape

   one of the tires developed a leak

2. 2
   noun

   an impolite euphemism for urination

   Where's the bathroom? I gotta take a leak.

3. 3
   verb

   have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out

   The container leaked gasoline

4. 4
   verb

   enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure

   Water leaked out of the can into the backpack

5. 5
   verb

   to divulge or reveal

   The news leaked out despite their secrecy.

6. 6
   verb

   tell anonymously

   The news were leaked to the paper

7. 7
   noun

   A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.

   a leak in a roof

8. 8
   noun

   The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.

   The leak gained on the ship's pumps.

Etymology

From Middle English leken (“to let water in or out”), from Old English *lecan (“to leak”), Middle Dutch leken (“to leak, drip”) or Old Norse leka (“to leak, drip”); all from Proto-Germanic *lekaną (“to leak, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg-, *leǵ- (“to leak”). Cognate with Dutch lekken (“to leak”), German lechen, lecken (“to leak”), Danish lække (“to leak”), Swedish läcka (“to leak”), Icelandic leka (“to leak”). Related also to Old English leċċan (“to water, wet”), Albanian lag, lak (“to damp, make wet”). See also leach, lake. (divulgation, disclosure of information): Compare typologica…