leaky

Etymology

Likely a normalisation ( + -y) of earlier leak, leake, leke (“leaky”, adj), from Middle English leke (“leaky”), from Old English hlec, *lec (“having cracks or rents; leaky”), from Proto-Germanic *lekaz (“leaking; leaky”); surface analysis as leak + -y. Cognate with Scots lek, leck (“leaky”), Saterland Frisian läk (“leaky”), Dutch lek (“leaky”), German Low German leck (“leaky”), German leck (“leaky”), Swedish läck (“leaky”), Icelandic lekur (“leaky”).

adj

1. Having leaks; not fully sealed.
   The leaky bucket only dripped one drop at a time, but by the time I got back to the house it was half empty.
   The ceiling was so leaky that someone had to fix it.
   Nuclear reactors in Russian submarines are said to be so leaky that crews are often paid "sterility money". 1983, Michael Stephenson, Roger Hearn, The Nuclear Case Book