▪ 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.
| 1138 Newminster Cartul. (Surtees) 9 De cruce ad crucem in Appeltreleche. 1570 Levins Manip. 5/43 A Lache, lacus. 1598 Mem. St. Giles' Durh. (Surtees) 26 Paid for scowringe of the bridge letch, ij{supd}. 1607 Markham Caval. vi. (1617) 10 A rotten ground full of letches. c 1630 Scot. Pasquil 8 At euery river, spring, or letch, I drinke. 1781 Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss., Lyring and lach, a gutter washed by the tide on the sea shore. 1815 Scott 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).
| 1868 B. 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.
| 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Letch, a whim of the amorous kind, out of the common way. 1814 Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 126/2 [Somerset wds.] Latch, fancy, wish. 1830 De Quincey Bentley Wks. 1857 VII. 40 Some people have a ‘letch’ for unmasking impostors, or for avenging the wrongs of others. 1834 Sir H. Taylor 1st Pt. Artevelde ii. vi. 134 Then will the Earl..pardon us our letch for liberty. 1862 Sat. Rev. 4 Jan. 5 The letch for blood which characterizes the savage. 1870 Swinburne 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. 1893 National 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.