Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. unable to keep a secret, indiscreet.

1683		Whores Rhetorick 70: They themselves are rather more leaky; being as little able to keep an intrigue.
a.1704		R. L’Estrange in Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues (1890–1904) IV 168/1: Women are so leaky that I have hardly met with one that could not hold her breath longer than she could keep a secret .
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		D. Crockett Col. Crockett’s Tour to North and Down East 217: Fortunately for the Governor, there was a leaky member, and [...] Poindexter heard of it.
1859		‘Scene in a London Flash-Panny’ Matsell Vocabulum 98: ‘Was he nabbed on the scent ?’ ‘No, his pal grew leaky and cackled.’.
1861		Dunfermline Press 20 June 3/6: The Leaky Admiral. Lord Hardwicke complains of [...] the indiscretion of Admiral Elliot in communicating to a leader of the Opposition [etc.].
1881		Trumble ‘On the Trail’ in Sl. Dict. (1890) 42: [as cit. 1859].
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 44: Leaky, not trustworthy.
1919		J. Buchan Mr Standfast (1930) 636: We’re the leakiest society on earth, and we safeguard ourselves by keeping dangerous people out of it. We trust to our outer barrage.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Leaky vessel, a person who talks too much.
1954		Oh Boy! No. 20 10: Say! You’ve got a leaky mouth, pal.
1966		J. Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea 73: Look, Jo-Jo coming, he talk to everybody about what he hear. Nothing but leaky calabash that boy.
1969		B. Mason Awatea (1978) 40: Now all these meddling mouths be shut! Leaky traps, all of them.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 320: But the UVF was a leaky boat. There were touts at every level.

2. in need of urination.

a.1704

N. Ward ‘Revels of the Gods’ Writings (1704) 106: Then Bacchus being Leaky, he pis’d into France, / Inriching their Grapes with the Spirit of Nants.

3. drunk and thus talkative.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 217: Both these fair ones [...] are as leaky as sieves, from turning their money as fast as they get it into liquor.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

4. (US) tearful, weepy.

1905		H.A. Vachell Hill 151: ‘I ain’t the leaky sort,’ she added fiercely, still gasping.
1942		Orchestra Wives [film script] ‘She’s a little red around the eyes.’ ‘Oh, Christopher, a weeper. If there’s anything I hate, it’s a leaky dame.’.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. Schoolchildren 187: Croydon boys have twenty names for a cry-baby: [...] leaky, [etc.].

5. (Irish) of weather, wet.

1997

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