LEECH, noun 1. A physician; a professor of the art of healing. [This word, in the United States, is nearly or wholly obsolete. Even cow leech is not used.] 2. A blood-sucker; an animal of the genus Hirudo, a species of aquatic worm, which is used in the medical art for topical bleeding. One large species of this animal is called horse-leech. 3. In seamen's language, the border or edge of a sail, which is sloping or perpendicular; as the fore-leech, the after-leech, etc.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI