leach
verb /liːtʃ/
/liːtʃ/
(specialist)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they leach | /liːtʃ/ /liːtʃ/ |
| he / she / it leaches | /ˈliːtʃɪz/ /ˈliːtʃɪz/ |
| past simple leached | /liːtʃt/ /liːtʃt/ |
| past participle leached | /liːtʃt/ /liːtʃt/ |
| -ing form leaching | /ˈliːtʃɪŋ/ /ˈliːtʃɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] leach (from something) (into something) | leach out/away (of chemicals, minerals, etc.) to be removed from soil, etc. by water passing through it
- Nitrates leach from the soil into rivers.
- [transitive] leach something (from something) (into something) | leach something out/away (of a liquid) to remove chemicals, minerals, etc. from soil
- The nutrient is quickly leached away.
Word OriginOld English leccan ‘to water’, of West Germanic origin. The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.