Meanings
plural leechdoms
- archaicA medicine; remedy.
That shall be a leechdom for her, for the one who there combeth her head.
1864, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England3 more examples
Egina, the English practitioner of the time would make a collection of receipts, prescriptions, or leechdoms for the various injuries, wounds, and common maladies, substituting the native herbs when foreign drugs were not to be had.
1903, Henry Duff Traill, James Saumarez Mann, Social EnglandA leechdom if thou will that an ill swelling and the venomous humour should burst out.
quoted in 1965, Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi scriptoresThe leechdom was for equal quantities of betony, celandine and yarrow juice mixed together, and then applied to the eyes.
2007, Donald Watts, Dictionary of Plant Lore - Page 141
Origin
- Old Englishlǣċedōm“medicament, medicine; healing, salvation”
- Middle Englishlechedom
- Englishleechdom
From Middle English lechedom, from Old English lǣċedōm (“medicament, medicine; healing, salvation”), equivalent to leech + -dom.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
leechdom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leechdom
“leechdom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leechdom. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leechdom,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leechdom.
Source: leechdom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.