leak, n. [Akin to D. lek leaky, a leak, G. leck, Icel. lekr leaky, Dan. læk leaky, a leak, Sw. läck; cf. AS. hlec full of cracks or leaky. Cf. Leak, v.].

A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape; as, a leak in a roof; a leak in a boat; a leak in a gas pipe. Bunyan. [1913 Webster]
The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture; as, the leak gained on the ship's pumps. [1913 Webster]
A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation; also, the point at which such loss occurs. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
an act of urinating; -- used mostly in the phrase take a leak, i. e. to urinate. [PJC]
The disclosure of information that is expected to be kept confidential; as, leaks by the White House staff infuriated Nixon; leaks by the Special Prosecutor were criticized as illegal. [PJC]

To spring a leak, to open or crack so as to let in water; to begin to let in water; as, the ship sprung a leak.

leak, a.

Leaky. Spenser. [1913 Webster]

leak, v. i. [Akin to D. lekken, G. lecken, lechen, Icel. leka, Dan. lække, Sw. läcka, AS. leccan to wet, moisten. See Leak, n.].

To let water or other fluid in or out through a hole, crevice, etc.; as, the cask leaks; the roof leaks; the boat leaks. [1913 Webster]
To enter or escape, as a fluid, through a hole, crevice, etc.; to pass gradually into, or out of, something; -- usually with in or out. [1913 Webster]

To leak out, to be divulged gradually or clandestinely; to become public; as, the facts leaked out.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

leak, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a hole in a vessel, pipe, or container etc. caused by wear or damage, through which matter, esp. liquid or gas, passes accidentally in or out. b the matter passing in or out through this. c the act or an instance of leaking.
2 a a similar escape of electrical charge. b the charge that escapes.
3 the intentional disclosure of secret information.
--v.
1 a intr. (of liquid, gas, etc.) pass in or out through a leak. b tr. lose or admit (liquid, gas, etc.) through a leak.
2 tr. intentionally disclose (secret information).
3 intr. (often foll. by out) (of a secret, secret information) become known.

Idiom

have (or take) a leak sl. urinate.

Derivative

leaker n.

Etymology

ME prob. f. LG

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THESAURUS

leak

abysm, abyss, aperture, arroyo, babble, babbling, be indiscreet, be revealed, be unguarded, become known, betray, betray a confidence, betrayal, blab, blabber, blabbering, blabbing, blurt, blurt out, box canyon, breach, break, breakout, broaching, canyon, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, clearing, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, come out, come to naught, come to nothing, communication leak, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, dead giveaway, defile, deliverance, delivery, dell, dike, discharge, disclose, disclosure, dissipate, distill, distillation, ditch, divulgation, divulge, divulgement, divulgence, divulging, donga, draw, dribble, drip, dripping, drippings, drop, emergence, escape, escapism, evasion, evulgation, excavation, extravasate, extrication, exudation, exude, fault, fenestra, fissure, fistula, flaw, flight, flume, fontanel, foramen, fracture, freeing, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gat, getaway, give away, giveaway, go to pot, go to seed, go to waste, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hiatus, hole, hollow, incision, indiscretion, inform, inform on, inlet, interval, issuance, issue, jailbreak, joint, kloof, lacuna, laying open, leak away, leak out, leakage, leaking, let drop, let fall, let slip, letting out, liberation, make known, make public, moat, notch, nullah, obvious clue, ooze, oozing, opening, opening up, orifice, out, outlet, pass, passage, passageway, peach, pore, prisonbreak, puncture, rat, ravine, release, rent, rescue, reveal a secret, revelation, riddance, rift, rime, run to seed, run to waste, rupture, scissure, seam, seep, seepage, seeping, setting-free, sing, slit, slot, space, spill, spill the beans, split, squeal, stoma, stool, talk, tattle, tattle on, tear, tell on, tell secrets, tell tales, telltale, telltale sign, throwing open, transpire, trench, trickle, trill, uncorking, unstopping, unwitting disclosure, valley, vent, void, wadi, weep, yawn

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ROGET THESAURUS

leak

Waste

VB spend, expend, use, consume, swallow up, exhaust, impoverish, spill, drain, empty, disperse, cast away, fool away, muddle away, throw away, fling away, fritter away, burn the candle at both ends, waste, squander, waste its sweetness on the desert air, cast one's bread upon the waters, cast pearls before swine, employ a steam engine to crack a nut, waste powder and shot, break a butterfly on a wheel, labor in vain, cut blocks with a razor, pour water into a sieve, leak, run to waste, ebb, melt away, run dry, dry up.

Interval

N interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.

Egress

VB emerge, emanate, issue, egress, go out of, come out of, move out of, pass out of, pour out of, flow out of, pass out of, evacuate, exude, transude, leak, run through, out through, percolate, transcolate, egurgitate, strain, distill, perspire, sweat, drain, ooze, filter, filtrate, dribble, gush, spout, flow out, well, well out, pour, trickle, effuse, extravasate, disembogue, discharge itself, debouch, come forth, break forth, burst out, burst through, find vent, escape.

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