leak
Forms
- Plural
- leaks
- present (v1)
- leak
- past (v2)
- leaked
- past participle (v3)
- leaked
- present participle
- leaking
- 3rd person singular
- leaks
Definitions
1.A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
2.The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.
- The babies' diapers had big leaks.
- The leak gained on the ship's pumps.
3.A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.
- The leaks by Chelsea Manning showed the secrets of the US military.
4.The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.
- I was the leak. That the government didn't like our advice, and so I decided to leak it to 'bounce' them into having to follow it.
- If he was the leak, it wasn't intentional. The same went for her mom, not that Cat thought her mom had any friends with top-level security clearance.
1.To allow fluid or gas to pass through an opening that should be sealed.
- The wells are believed to have been leaking oil for decades, long after the operating company ceased to exist.
2.(of a fluid or gas) To pass through an opening that should be sealed.
- The faucet has been leaking since last month.
- No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.
3.To disclose secret information surreptitiously or anonymously.
- Someone must have leaked it to our competitors that the new product will be out soon.
- That's another of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential press briefings; you leak; he's being charged under section 2(A) of the Official Secrets Act.
4.To pass through when it would normally or preferably be blocked.
- A target that is not detected would not be intercepted and thus would leak through the single defensive layer.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #5009
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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- (“to leak”).