Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LEECH, n. [Goth. leikeis, Sax. læc, a host or innkeeper, a physician; Dan. läege; læger, to heal; Sw. läkia, to heal; läkiare, a physician; Ir. liagh; Russ. liakar.]

1. A physician; a professor of the art of healing. – Spenser. Dryden. Gay. [This word, in the United States, is nearly or wholly obsolete. Even cow leech is not used.]
2. [Sax. læccan, to seize.] 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, &c.