Definition of "leak" in Englisch

noun

1. A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.

   • a leak in a roof
   • a leak in a boat
   • a leak in a gas pipe

2. The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.

   • The leak gained on the ship's pumps.
   • The babies' diapers had big leaks.

3. A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.

   • The leaks by Chelsea Manning showed the secrets of the US military.

4. The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.

5. A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation, or the point where it occurs.

6. (computing) The gradual loss of a system resource caused by failure to deallocate previously reserved portions.

   • resource leak
   • memory leak

7. (mildly vulgar, slang, especially with the verb "take") An act of urination.

   • I have to take a leak.

verb

1. (transitive) To allow fluid or gas to pass through an opening that should be sealed.

   • The wells are believed to have been leaking oil for decades, long after the operating company ceased to exist.

2. (intransitive) (of a fluid or gas) To pass through an opening that should be sealed.

   • The faucet has been leaking since last month.
   • No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.

3. (ambitransitive) To disclose secret information surreptitiously or anonymously.

   • Someone must have leaked it to our competitors that the new product will be out soon.

4. (intransitive, figurative, by extension) To pass through when it would normally or preferably be blocked.

5. (transitive, figurative, by extension) To allow anything through that would normally or preferably be blocked.

6. (slang, sometimes euphemistic) To urinate.

   • I had to leak in the woods since there were no toilets around.

7. (slang, US) To bleed.

   • He shanked him, now he's leaking.

adjective

1. (obsolete) Leaky.