leak v.
1. to urinate.
Henry IV Pt 1 II i: Why, they will allow us ne’er a jordan, and then we leak in the chimney. | ||
Knave of Clubs 19: Then sing me, I could fancie lovely Nanny, (And here is for you, I’le but goe and leake; Call for a pot, ther’s not a rogue will speake.) So takes his cloake, and downe the staires away. | ‘Master Make Shift’||
Miscellanies V (1736) 37: Twelve Cups of Tea [...] Has now constrain’d the Nymph to leak. | ‘Strephon and Chloe’||
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: To Leak, to Make Water. | ||
, | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn). | |
Works (1801) V 107: The King no notice tuke, ’tis zaid, But, leek a pisky, laugh’d and play’d To push-pin wey the Queen. | ‘Royal Visit to Exeter’||
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Swell’s Night Guide 73: Times are badly changed since John the hostler lived here; then every bed had a jordan; but now you must leak in a chimney corner. | ||
Scarlet Pansy 258: A real he-man can always leak without turning on the water faucet. | ||
Lonely Boy Blues (1965) 92: I wouldn’t leak on your grave! | ||
On The Road (1972) 87: The prowl car came by and the cop got out to leak. | ||
Housing Lark 125: ‘I feel to piss.’ ‘Go and find a tree. I just leak against a oak over there.’. | ||
(con. 1940s–60s) ‘Cats on the Rooftops’ in Snatches and Lays 26: The poor old desert camel has no water for a week, / And as he doesn’t drink, the poor bugger cannot leak. |
2. to reveal a secret unintentionally, or intentionally [now SE].
Vocabulum. | ||
Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 18 May 6/4: The favored few [...] swore eternal secrecy, but [...] have ‘leaked’ in some manner. | ||
‘’Arry in the Witness-Box’ Punch 5 Feb. 61/2: The plaintiff [...] seemed to go slap orf ’is chump / And leaked orkurd facts like a sieve when the Counsel jest put on the pump. | ||
Worthington Advance (MN) 31 May 6/2: ‘Roping’ means to work into the confidence of man under suspicion [...] and become so friendly that he will ‘leak’ what you are after. | ||
Aus. Sl. Dict. 44: Leak, to impart a secret. | ||
Bucky O’Connor (1910) 114: Somebody’s leaked, or else he has a spy in our councils. | ||
Und. and Prison Sl. | ||
Spanish Blood (1946) 12: Leak this to your favorite newshawk and you’re out a job. | ‘Spanish Blood’||
Long Good-Bye 286: Personally I don’t figure it was Lawford who leaked. He’s a politician too. | ||
Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 90: This big builder thinks one of his staff is leaking. | ||
London Embassy 192: I was asked to leak it to the British press. | ||
(con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 231: You leaked word to him on Mr. McPherson’s quote dark desires. | ||
Indep. 15 Jan. 7: Hunt widens for ‘mole’ who leaked fake nuclear data. |
3. (US) to lie.
(ref. to 1880) in Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
4. (US, also turn on the leaks) to weep.
Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 44: When his eyes began to leak, Pa put his hand in his tail-pocket for his handker, and got it out. | ||
Artie (1963) 57: She claimed it was the happiest day of her life, and then as soon as she said it she commenced to leak again. | ||
Coll. Stories 164: Then she had turned on the ‘leaks’—just a pitiful little victim of a big, bad, stick-up man. | ‘Prison Mass’ in||
Vinnie Got Blown Away 126: Monday blubbed before we went to school, blubbed dinnertime we came back then still leaking after school. | ||
Hell on Hoe Street 197: Now she was leaking and shaking like she was gutted. | ||
Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 423: I’m dripping my own tears onto her cheeks. Shaun never likes me leaking on the corpses. |
5. (US) to rain.
DN III:i 86: leak, v. To rain. ‘Take an umbrella, it looks like it’s going to leak’. | ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in
6. (US) of information, to be revealed.
Vanity Row 35: ‘Wait a minute. Did this leak, Mike?’ ‘To the newspapers? The kid as witness, you mean? No.’ ‘All right. Let it stay that way’ . |
7. (US) to bleed.
Tourist Season (1987) 227: The sonofabitch leaked pretty good. He’s got to be hurting. | ||
🎵 Smilin’ is cheesin’, bleedin’ is leakin’. | ‘Ebonics’