Horseleech

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Horse-leech \Horse"-leech`\, n.
     1. (Zool.) A large blood-sucking leech ({H[ae]mopsis vorax}),
        of Europe and Northern Africa. It attacks the lips and
        mouths of horses.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. A farrier; a veterinary surgeon.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  horseleech
       n : any of several large freshwater leeches

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Horse-leech
     occurs only in Prov. 30:15 (Heb. 'alukah); the generic name for
     any blood-sucking annelid. There are various species in the
     marshes and pools of Palestine. That here referred to, the
     Hoemopis, is remarkable for the coarseness of its bite, and is
     therefore not used for medical purposes. They are spoken of in
     the East with feelings of aversion and horror, because of their
     propensity to fasten on the tongue and nostrils of horses when
     they come to drink out of the pools. The medicinal leech (Hirudo
     medicinalis), besides other species of leeches, are common in
     the waters of Syria.