Leek (pronounced leek)
(1) A
cultivated plant, Allium ampeloprasum, of the amaryllis family, related to the
onion, with a long cylindrical bundle of strap-like leaves and used in cooking,
especially the paler portion (the bulb) near the base.
(2) Any
of various onion-related plants, especially the wild leek, Allium ampeloprasum,
from which the culinary leek was cultivated.
(3) In symbolism
(in real or representational form), a national emblem of Wales
Pre
1000: From the Middle English lek, leek, leck
& leike, from the Old English læc (Mercian), lēac (West Saxon), & lēc (a
garden herb, leek, onion, garlic), from the Proto-West Germanic lauk, from the Proto-Germanic lauką & laukaz (leek, onion), from the primitive Indo-European lewg- (to bend). The Proto-Germanic lauka- was the source also of the Old High German louh, the German Low German Look (leek), the Old Norse laukr (leek, garlic), the Danish løg, the Swedish lök (onion), the Old Saxon lok
(leek), the Swedish lök (onion), the
Icelandic laukur (onion, leek,
garlic), the Middle Dutch looc, the Dutch
look (leek, garlic), the Old High
German louh, the German Lauch (leek, allium), and the Old Norse laukr.
The Finnish laukka, the Russian luk- and Old Church Slavonic luku are also
presumed to be Germanic and the word provided the final element in garlic. Leak is a noun; the noun plural is leeks.
Spike Milligan (1918–2002) (left), Peter Sellers (1925–1980) (centre) and Harry Secombe (1921-2001) with leeks, publicity photo for the BBC's Goon Show (1951-1960).
Leak (pronounced leek)
(1) An
unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc.,
enters or escapes.
(2) An act
or instance of leaking.
(3) Any
means of unintended entrance or escape.
(4) In
electricity, the loss of current from a conductor, usually resulting from poor
insulation.
(5) In
politics, diplomacy or industry etc, divulgation, or disclosure of previously
secret (especially official), information, to the news media or others (also in
the sense of the “managed leak”, the controlled disclosure of nominally
confidential information to selected targets).
A person who leaks information can be said to be “the leek”.
(6) To
let a liquid, gas, light etc, enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or
crack; to pass in or out in this manner, as liquid, gas, or light.
(7) In
computing (usually as “memory leak”), the figurative loss of some static
resource because of some flaw in design.
(8) In
vulgar slang as “to take a leak”, to urinate.
(9) In
psephology, the “leakage” of votes from one candidate to another as a quirk of
the because of the mechanism of a voting system (used especially in
preferential systems).
(10) In
military slang (especially US), to bleed as a consequence of an injury
sustained in combat.
1375-1425:
From the Middle English leken (to let
water in or out), from the Old English lecan
(to leak), from the Middle Dutch leken
(to leak, drip) or the Old Norse leka
(to leak, drip), all of which were from the Proto-Germanic lekaną (to leak, to drain away), from the primitive Indo-European leg- & leǵ- (to leak).
It was cognate with Dutch lekken
(to leak), the (obsolete) Dutch lek,
the German lech (leaky), lechen & lecken (to leak), the Swedish läcka
(to leak) and the Icelandic leka (to
leak) and related to the Old English leċċan
(to water, wet), the Albanian lag
& lak (I dampen, make wet”) and
ultimately modern words like leach and lake.
The verb leak (to let water in or out) emerged in the late fourteenth
century, the noun leakage a hundred years later, the adjective leaky appearing
midway between the two along with the related leakiness, the slang sense of
which as “unable to keep a secret” documented by 1704 although in oral use it
may earlier have been common, the figurative meaning "coming to be known
in spite of efforts at concealment" in use by at least 1832, the
transitive sense first noted in 1859.
The phrase “spring a leak” dates from the early fifteenth century and
drew from the image of water bubbling from a spring. Leak is a noun, verb & adjective,
leakage, leakiness & leaker are nouns, leaky, leakproof & leakless are
adjectives and leakily an adverb; the noun plural is leaks.
The idiomatic "take a leak" has potential in advertising.
In politics, diplomacy and industry, leaks have existed as long as there has been information to leak although the motivations have varied. Leaks have enabled many battlefield victories and, especially if strategically timed, sabotaged many political campaigns, one advantage of this approach being that what is leaked doesn’t of necessity have to be true. Although this tradition of the leak had a long (if not noble) lineage, such things seem to have been commonly described as leaks only since 1950 although the notion in this context had existed for centuries. In politics leaks aimed at destabilizing or compromising one’s official opponents are familiar but the most amusing are those designed to embarrass one’s colleagues, internecine squabbles the most fun to watch. The Nixon White House (1969-1974) took up the challenge of stopping leaks linguistically as well as operationally, the unit set up to “plug the leaks” informally known as “the plumbers”. In their endeavors the plumbers enjoyed some early success but there was also mission creep, the unit responsible for the “third-rate burglary” at the Watergate complex which led eventually to the Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) resignation.
1975 Triumph Trident T160.It’s possible to tell this Trident has just been parked because there are no tell-tale patches of oil on the ground below. Before the Japanese manufacturers proved it was possible to mass-produce motor-cycles without endemic oil-leaks, the rationalization of owners of British bikes had always been the weeping fluid was helpful because the seals existed “not to keep oil in but to keep dirt out”. Whether true or not, the urban legend was that the fewer the cylinders and the greater the displacement, the more the vibration and the volume of oil leaked. Thus the biggest singles (such as BSA's 441 & the various 500s) were most susceptible and the triples (750 cm3) the least while among the twins, the 500 & 650 cm3 machines wept less than those which displaced 750 & 850 cm3. However, that's damning with faint praise and all concede that while things improved over the years, it was always the case that some leaked more than others
In computing, the dreaded “memory leak” or “resource leak” is technically, usually a failure to de-allocate previously reserved portions of memory or a resource so leak in this context is an expression of effect rather than cause, the resource still existing but now inaccessible. The idiomatic “take a leak” entered popular use after appearing in fiction during the 1930s but late in the sixteenth century Shakespeare’s audiences would have understood there were alternatives when an iourden (chamber pot) was denied: "Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach." (Henry IV, Part 1 II.i.22).
Lindsay Lohan’s chicken pot pie with leeks and veal meatballs appears in Jamie’s Friday Night Feast Cookbook (Penguin Books, 2018). It serves 8.
Ingredients
2
onions
2
carrots
2 small
potatoes
2
medium leeks
Olive
oil
300g
free-range chicken thighs, skin off, bone out
300g
skinless boneless free-range chicken breast
4
rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
1 knob
of unsalted butter
50g
plain flour
700ml
organic chicken stock
2
tablespoons English mustard
1
heaped tablespoon creme fraiche
A ½ bunch (15g) of fresh woody herbs
White
pepper
3
sprigs of fresh sage
300g
minced higher-welfare veal (20% fat)
1 large
free-range egg
300g
plain flour, plus extra for dusting (for pastry)
100g
shredded suet (for pastry)
100g
unsalted butter (cold) (for pastry)
Instructions
Preheat
oven to 180C (350F). Peel and roughly
chop the onions and carrots, then peel the potatoes and chop into 2cm (¾ inch) chunks.
Trim, halve and wash the leeks, then
finely slice.
Place a
large pan on a medium heat with one tablespoon of oil. Chop chicken into 3cm (1¼ inch) chunks,
roughly chop bacon and add both to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, or until lightly
golden. A dd the onions, carrots, potatoes and leeks, then cook for a further
15 minutes or until softened. Add the
butter, then stir in the flour to coat.
Gradually
pour in the stock, then add the mustard and creme fraiche. Tie the woody herb sprigs together with string
to make a bouquet garni and add to the pan. Cook for 10 more minutes, stirring
regularly, then season with white pepper.
Meanwhile,
for the pastry, put the flour and a good pinch of sea salt into a bowl with the
suet; cube and add the butter. Using the thumb and forefingers, rub the fat
into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Slowly
stir in 100ml of ice-cold water, then use the hands to bring it together into a
ball without over-working. Wrap in
clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes, during which,
make the meatballs.
Pick
and finely chop the sage, season with salt and pepper, then with the hands
scrunch and mix with the veal. Roll into
3cm (1¼ inch) balls, gently place in a large pan on a medium heat with half a
tablespoon of oil and cook for 10 minutes or until golden all over, jiggling
occasionally for even cooking.
Transfer
the pie filling to a large (250 x 300mm (10-12 inch)) oval dish, discarding the
bouquet garni. Leave to cool, then dot
the meatballs on top.
Roll
out pastry on a clean, flour-dusted surface until it's slightly bigger than pie
dish. Eggwash edges of dish, then place the pastry on top of the pie, trimming
off any overhang, pinching the edges to seal and make a small incision in the
centre. Use any spare pastry to decorate the pie if preferred. Eggwash the top, bake for 50 minutes or until
the pastry is golden and the pie is piping hot. Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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