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Definition of leech : 1. A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.
2. A physician or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing.
3. Any one of numerous genera and species of annulose worms, belonging to the order Hirudinea, or Bdelloidea, esp. those species used in medicine, as Hirudo medicinalis of Europe, and allied species.
4. See 2d Leach.
5. See Leach, v. t.
6. The border or edge at the side of a sail.
7. To bleed by the use of leeches.
8. To treat as a surgeon; to doctor; as, to leech wounds.

Synonyms:

phlebotomize, hemorrhage, ant, sycophant, bleed, miser, boll weevil, black widow, skinflint, free rider, vulture, parazoan, hanger-on, freeloader, quick study, taker, run, aphid, deadbeat, moocher, bedbug, poriferan, bluebottle, bloodsucker, tightwad, phlebotomise, sponge, hirudinean, dependence, parasite, blowfly, shed blood, bee, cheapskate, beetle, sponger

Usage examples:

• Then I began to think it unseemly that the Prince of Egypt should play the leech to a woman's hurts, and to wonder why he had not left that humble task to me. - "Moon of Israel", H. Rider Haggard.
• The Chamberlain must prepare for his lord a clean shirt, under and upper coat and doublet, breeches, socks, and slippers as brown as a water- leech. - "Early English Meals and Manners", Various.
• The leech leaves not his patient more than the champion the lists, even if he be summoned to a bower like those of Paradise.... - "The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886", Ministry of Education.