▪ I. leek
(liːk)
Forms: 1 léac, 3 lec, 3–5 lek, 4 lik, 4–6 leke, Sc. leik(e, (5 pl. lecus), 5–7 leeke, 6 like, 7 lieke, leake, 8 leak, 4– leek.
[OE. léac str. neut. = MDu. looc (Du. look) neut., OHG. louh (MHG. louch, mod.G. lauch) masc., ON. lauk-r (Sw. lök, Da. l{obar}g):—OTeut. *lauko-, whence Finnish laukka, OSl. lukŭ; no affinities outside Teut. are known.]
1. A culinary herb, Allium Porrum (family Liliaceæ), allied to the onion, but differing from it in having the bulbous part cylindrical and the leaves flat and broad.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 234 Gebeat þæt leac & þa rudan ᵹegnid togædere. c 1265 Voc. Plants in Wr.-Wülcker 555/7 Porius, poret, lek. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 404 In þe ȝard [he] sone has sene caile & leikis faire & grene. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 291 Wiþ þe iuys of a strong oynoun, or wiþ ius of lekis. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 47 Grynd þy lecus in morter fre. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 710/23 Hic bilbus, a lekes hed. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. (1535) 31 a, Garlike, oynions, and also likes are nat holsome for temperate bodyes. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. lxxxvi. 138 The Leeke is hot and dry, and doth attenuate. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, Plagues Egypt i, But we, alas, the Flesh-pots love, We love the very Leeks and sordid roots below. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6043/2 All the Company wore Leeks in Honour to the Princess [of Wales]. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. Wks. 1834 II. 148 The leek with crown globose and reedy stem. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xviii (1852) 428 A leek has over-run whole districts [in New Zealand]..; it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. |
2. Applied with qualifications to:
a. Other species of
Allium, as
stone leek, the Welsh onion,
A. fistulosum (
Treas. Bot. 1866), formerly called
holleke,
q.v.;
vine leek (
† leek of the vine),
A. Ampeloprasum (
Treas. Bot.);
wild leek,
A. ursinum;
French leek (see
French a. 5).
b. Bulbous plants of other genera, as
† corn-leek (see
quot. 1551);
dog('s) leek, (see
dog n. 20 d). Also
crow-leek, house-leek.
| 1551 Turner Herbal i. G v b, Bulbine..may be called in English Corne leeke or wyldeleeke. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 60 The headed or sette Leeke..in Latine Capitatum. 1611 Cotgr., Oignon sauvage..the wild field Onyon, Bulbine,..Corne Leeke. Ibid., Porreau de chien, Dogs Leeke, wild Leeke, French Leek, Leeke of the Vine. Porreau sectil, ou tondu, the cut Leeke, maidens Leeke, blade Leeke, vnset Leeke. Porreau testu, the headed or knobbed Leeke, set Leeke, vncut Leeke. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. 198 Allium ursinum. Ramps: Wild Leeks. Moist woods and deans, abundant and gregarious. 1874 C. Geikie Life in Woods xiii. 205 The wild leeks in the bushes. |
† 3. Taken as a type of something of little value. Also
a leek's blade,
a leek's clove (
clove n.1 1).
| 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 3644 Bodi & soule no nouȝt þer-of No is nouȝt worþ a lekes clof. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 106 Every man that holt him worth a leek. ― Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 242. a 1400–50 Alexander 4228 Ȝour lare of a leke suld neuire þe les worth. c 1460 Towneley Myst. i. 129 Now, therof a leke what rekes vs? a 1483 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 278 Thay were not of thayre entent the nere of a leke. 14.. Childe of Bristowe 8 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 111 The beste song that ever was made ys not worth a lekys blade, but men wol tende ther-tille. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 183 They make her wynche and keke, But it is not worth a leke. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 515 And breaking Laws for Bribes, profane your Place, To leave a Leek to your unthankfull Race. c 1600 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 1374, I knaw na liquor worth a leik To quench his deidlie drouth. ? a 1800 Willie's drowned in Gamery iii. in Child Ballads (1890) IV. 181/1, I dinna value their love a leek. |
4. Proverbial and allusive phrases, referring to the colour of the leek, to its being the national emblem of the Welsh, etc.
as clean as a leek (
Sc.): perfectly, completely, entirely.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 65 As a leek that hedde i-leiȝen longe in the sonne, So loked he, with lene chekes lourede he foule. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 212 Ful sad and caytif was she eek, And al-so grene as any leek. c 1386 ― Reeve's Prol. 25 To have an hoor heed and a grene tayl, As hath a leek. 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 43 A lewid frere that men callen frere Daw Topias, as lewid as a leke. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 7684 To his face she leid hir cheke She felt it cold as yse or leke. 1546, 1589 [see lark n.1 1 c]. 1575 Gascoigne Dan Bartholmew Poems 1869 I. 137 His flecked cheekes, Nowe cherrye redde, nowe pale and greene as leekes. 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 103 Tho my head be like a Leeke, white: may not my heart be like the blade, greene? 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Monday 83 Leek to the Welch, to Dutchmen Butter's dear. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 118 St. David, you know, loves Leeks and toasted Cheese. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, For now, as clean's a leek, Ye've cherish'd me since ye began to speak. |
b. to eat the (or one's) leek: to submit to humiliation under compulsion (in allusion to the
Shakes. passage below).
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. i. 10 Hee is come to me, and prings me pread and sault yesterday, looke you, and bid me eate my Leeke. 1835 Disraeli Let. 20 Aug. in Corr. Sister (1886) 43 It was whispered the Whigs meant to swallow the Corporation leek. 1859 All Year Round No. 29. 61 The Welshmen very humbly ate their leek. 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 303 There was nothing for it but to obey... But it was a leek to eat, and there was no denying it. |
† 5. A cant term for a Welshman.
Obs.| c 1700 Street Robberies Consider'd, Leake, Welshman. 1725 New Cant. Dict., Leaks, Welshmen. |
† 6. (See
quot.)
Obs.| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 172/2 The Porrum, or Leek of the Eye [in Cows] is a swelling tumor in the eye. |
7. green-leek (parrot): see
green a. 13 b.
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
leek-bed,
leek-blade,
leek-colour,
leek-garth,
leek-green n. and
adj.,
leek-porridge,
leek-pottage,
leek-seed,
leek-wort;
† leek-head (see
quot.).
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 604/12 Porretarium, a *lekbed. 1573–80 Baret Alv. L 285 A leeke bed, or a place set with lekes. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Leek-bed, it is usual in talking to children, when of an inquiring turn, to tell boys that they were dug up in the leek-bed. |
| 1538 Elyot Dict., Porraceus, of the coloure of *leeke blades. |
| 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 990 Three feet and shanks on each side of a *leek colour. |
| 1570 Levins Manip. 34/12 Ye *Leekegarth, porretum. |
| 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass xxxii, A very fair Sea-green, called *Leek green. 1864 R. F. Burton Dahome 58 A broad leek-green swamp. 1865 Grote Plato I. i. 81 Blue, violet, leek-green, nut-brown. |
| 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), *Leek-Heads, a kind of Warts that come about a Horse's Pasterns and Pastern-joints. |
| 1795 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Lousiad iv. Wks. 1812 I. 281 *Leek-porridge, stir-about, we'll sooner want. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 295/2 *Leek pottage porrata. 1781 [C. Johnston] John Juniper II. ii. vii. 176 It will agree with the stomach of a Welshman as well as leek-pottage. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 190 Lynneseed and *lik-seed and lente-seedes alle Aren nouht so worthy as whete. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. (1535) 91 b, The..ieuse of henbane with the leke sede muste be bourned to gether. |
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6999 It wolde finde hom lec & worten [v.rr. *lek worten, like worten, lekwort] inowe bi þe ȝere. |
▪ II. leek(e obs. form of
leak,
like.