I. leak 1 /liːk/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: leka ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] if a container, pipe, roof etc leaks, or if it leaks gas, liquid etc, there is a small hole or crack in it that lets gas or liquid flow through:
The roof is leaking.
A tanker is leaking oil off the coast of Scotland.
2 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] if a gas or liquid leaks somewhere, it gets through a hole in something SYN seep
leak into/from/out
Sea water was leaking into the batteries which powered the electric motors.
3 . [transitive] to deliberately give secret information to a newspaper, television company etc:
The report’s findings had been leaked.
leak something to somebody
civil servants who leak information to the press
leak out phrasal verb
if secret information leaks out, a lot of people find out about it:
No sooner had the news leaked out than my telephone started ringing.
II. leak 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . a small hole that lets liquid or gas flow into or out of something:
There is a leak in the ceiling.
The boat had sprung a leak (=a hole had appeared in it) .
2 . a gas/oil/water etc leak an escape of gas or liquid through a hole in something:
A gas leak caused the explosion.
3 . a situation in which secret information is deliberately given to a newspaper, television company etc:
It became evident from the leaks that something important was going on.
4 . take/have a leak informal to get rid of waste liquid from your body SYN urinate
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THESAURUS
▪ hole an empty space in the surface of something, which sometimes goes all the way through it:
A fox had dug a hole under our fence.
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Rain was coming in through a hole in the roof.
▪ space an empty area between two things, into which you can put something:
Are there any empty spaces on the bookshelf?
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a parking space
▪ gap an empty area between two things or two parts of something, especially one that should not be there:
He has a gap between his two front teeth.
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I squeezed through a gap in the hedge.
▪ opening a hole that something can pass through or that you can see through, especially at the entrance of something:
The train disappeared into the dark opening of the tunnel.
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I looked through the narrow opening in the wall.
▪ leak a small hole where something has been damaged or broken that lets liquid or gas flow in or out:
a leak in the pipe
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The plumber's coming to repair the leak.
▪ puncture especially British English a small hole in a tyre through which air escapes:
My bike's got a puncture.
▪ crack a very narrow space between two things or two parts of something:
The snake slid into a crack in the rock.
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She was peering through the crack in the curtains.
▪ slot a straight narrow hole that you put a particular type of object into:
You have to put a coin in the slot before you dial the number.
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A small disk fits into a slot in the camera.
▪ crater a round hole in the ground made by an explosion or by a large object hitting it hard:
a volcanic crater
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The meteor left a crater over five miles wide.
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the craters on the moon