[syn: leak, leak out]
3. enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure;
- Example: "Water leaked out of the can into the backpack"
- Example: "Gas leaked into the basement"
4. have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out;
- Example: "The container leaked gasoline"
- Example: "the roof leaks badly"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Leak \Leak\, a.
Leaky. [Obs.] --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
207 Moby Thesaurus words for "leak":
abysm, abyss, aperture, arroyo, babble, babbling, be indiscreet,
be revealed, be unguarded, become known, betray,
betray a confidence, betrayal, blab, blabber, blabbering, blabbing,
blurt, blurt out, box canyon, breach, break, breakout, broaching,
canyon, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, clearing,
cleft, cleuch, clough, col, come out, come to naught,
come to nothing, communication leak, coulee, couloir, crack,
cranny, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, dead giveaway, defile,
deliverance, delivery, dell, dike, discharge, disclose, disclosure,
dissipate, distill, distillation, ditch, divulgation, divulge,
divulgement, divulgence, divulging, donga, draw, dribble, drip,
dripping, drippings, drop, emergence, escape, escapism, evasion,
evulgation, excavation, extravasate, extrication, exudation, exude,
fault, fenestra, fissure, fistula, flaw, flight, flume, fontanel,
foramen, fracture, freeing, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gat, getaway,
give away, giveaway, go to pot, go to seed, go to waste, gorge,
groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hiatus, hole, hollow, incision,
indiscretion, inform, inform on, inlet, interval, issuance, issue,
jailbreak, joint, kloof, lacuna, laying open, leak away, leak out,
leakage, leaking, let drop, let fall, let slip, letting out,
liberation, make known, make public, moat, notch, nullah,
obvious clue, ooze, oozing, opening, opening up, orifice, out,
outlet, pass, passage, passageway, peach, pore, prisonbreak,
puncture, rat, ravine, release, rent, rescue, reveal a secret,
revelation, riddance, rift, rime, run to seed, run to waste,
rupture, scissure, seam, seep, seepage, seeping, setting-free,
sing, slit, slot, space, spill, spill the beans, split, squeal,
stoma, stool, talk, tattle, tattle on, tear, tell on, tell secrets,
tell tales, telltale, telltale sign, throwing open, transpire,
trench, trickle, trill, uncorking, unstopping,
unwitting disclosure, valley, vent, void, wadi, weep, yawn
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
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.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
leak
With a 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.
One might refer to, say, a "window handle leak" in a window
system.
See memory leak, fd leak.
[Jargon File]
(1995-04-18)