Result from Foreign Dictionaries (5 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Leak \Leak\ (l[=e]k), n. [Akin to D. lek leaky, a leak, G. leck, Icel. lekr leaky, Dan. l[ae]k leaky, a leak, Sw. l[aum]ck; cf. AS. hlec full of cracks or leaky. Cf. {Leak}, v.] 1. A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape; as, a leak in a roof; a leak in a boat; a leak in a gas pipe. "One leak will sink a ship." --Bunyan. [1913 Webster] 2. The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture; as, the leak gained on the ship's pumps. [1913 Webster] 3. (Elec.) A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation; also, the point at which such loss occurs. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 4. an act of urinating; -- used mostly in the phrase {take a leak}, i. e. to urinate. [vulgar] [PJC] 5. The disclosure of information that is expected to be kept confidential; as, leaks by the White House staff infuriated Nixon; leaks by the Special Prosecutor were criticized as illegal. [PJC] {To spring a leak}, to open or crack so as to let in water; to begin to let in water; as, the ship sprung a leak. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Leak \Leak\, a. Leaky. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Leak \Leak\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Leaked} (l[=e]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Leaking}.] [Akin to D. lekken, G. lecken, lechen, Icel. leka, Dan. l[ae]kke, Sw. l[aum]cka, AS. leccan to wet, moisten. See {Leak}, n.] 1. To let water or other fluid in or out through a hole, crevice, etc.; as, the cask leaks; the roof leaks; the boat leaks. [1913 Webster] 2. To enter or escape, as a fluid, through a hole, crevice, etc.; to pass gradually into, or out of, something; -- usually with in or out. [1913 Webster] {To leak out}, to be divulged gradually or clandestinely; to become public; as, the facts leaked out. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: leak n 1: an accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape; "one of the tires developed a leak" 2: soft watery rot in fruits and vegetables caused by fungi 3: a euphemism for urination; "he had to take a leak" [syn: {leak}, {wetting}, {making water}, {passing water}] 4: the discharge of a fluid from some container; "they tried to stop the escape of gas from the damaged pipe"; "he had to clean up the leak" [syn: {escape}, {leak}, {leakage}, {outflow}] 5: unauthorized (especially deliberate) disclosure of confidential information [syn: {leak}, {news leak}] v 1: tell anonymously; "The news were leaked to the paper" 2: be leaked; "The news leaked out despite his secrecy" [syn: {leak}, {leak out}] 3: enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure; "Water leaked out of the can into the backpack"; "Gas leaked into the basement" 4: have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out; "The container leaked gasoline"; "the roof leaks badly" From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]: leak n. With qualifier, one of a class of resource-management bugs that occur when resources are not freed properly after operations on them are finished, so they effectively disappear (leak out). This leads to eventual exhaustion as new allocation requests come in. {memory leak} has its own entry; one might also refer, to, say, a window handle leak in a window system.