释义 |
▪ I. letch, n.1 Sc. and north. dial.|lɛtʃ| Forms: 6, 9 lache, 6–7 letch, 8–9 lach, 9 latch, leach. [? f. OE. lęccan vb.; see leach v.2, and cf. leach n.2] A stream flowing through boggy land; a muddy ditch or hole; a bog. Also, see quot. 1781.
1138Newminster Cartul. (Surtees) 9 De cruce ad crucem in Appeltreleche. 1570Levins Manip. 5/43 A Lache, lacus. 1598Mem. St. Giles' Durh. (Surtees) 26 Paid for scowringe of the bridge letch, ijd. 1607Markham Caval. vi. (1617) 10 A rotten ground full of letches. c1630Scot. Pasquil 8 At euery river, spring, or letch, I drinke. 1781Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss., Lyring and lach, a gutter washed by the tide on the sea shore. 1815Scott Guy M. xxiii, Wither⁓shins' latch..a narrow channel, through which soaked, rather than flowed, a small stagnant stream. b. transf. A pool (of blood).
1868B. Brierley Irkdale viii. 163 He found that instrument to be broken in several fragments, one of which lay in a ‘leach’ of blood. ▪ II. letch, n.2|lɛtʃ| [Of obscure origin; possibly f. latch v.1, but cf. lech n.4] A craving, longing.
1796Grose's Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Letch, a whim of the amorous kind, out of the common way. 1814Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 126/2 [Somerset wds.] Latch, fancy, wish. 1830De Quincey Bentley Wks. 1857 VII. 40 Some people have a ‘letch’ for unmasking impostors, or for avenging the wrongs of others. 1834Sir H. Taylor 1st Pt. Artevelde ii. vi. 134 Then will the Earl..pardon us our letch for liberty. 1862Sat. Rev. 4 Jan. 5 The letch for blood which characterizes the savage. 1870Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 81 No trace..of the fretful and fruitless prurience of soul which would fain grasp..a creed beyond its power of possession,—no letch after Gods dead or unborn. 1893National Observer 23 Dec. 141/2 The unconquerable letch he had upon sombre sorceries. ▪ III. letch variant of leach n.2 ▪ IV. letch see lech n.4 and v. |