horse-leech

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See also: horse leech and horseleech

English

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horse-leech on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English horseleche, horse leche (horse doctor; bloodsucker, leech), equivalent to horse +‎ leech. So called because it commonly attacks the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals, such as horses, that drink at pools where it lives.

Noun

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horse-leech (plural horse-leeches)

  1. (obsolete) A veterinarian for horses.
  2. A type of sucking worm, Haemopis sanguisuga, larger than the common leech.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection vi:
      Some use horse-leeches behind the ears, and apply opium to the place.
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Translations

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