seep

Etymology

Variant of sipe, from Middle English *sipen, from Old English sipian, from Proto-Germanic *sipōną, derivative of *sīpaną (compare Middle Dutch sīpen (“to drip”), German Low German siepern (“to seep”), archaic German seifen (“to trickle blood”)), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *sib- (“to pour out, drip, trickle”) (compare Latin sēbum (“suet, tallow”), Ancient Greek εἴβω (eíbō, “to drop, drip”)). See soap.

verb

1. (intransitive) To ooze or pass slowly through pores or other small openings, and in overly small quantities; said of liquids, etc.
   Water has seeped through the roof.
   The water steadily seeped in through the thirl.
2. (intransitive, figurative) To enter or penetrate slowly; to spread or diffuse.
   Woe seeped through her heart thinking of what had befallen their ethnic group.
   Fear began to seep into the local community over the contamination of their fishpond.
3. (intransitive, figurative) To diminish or wane away slowly.
   The resistance movement against the invaders had slowly seeped away.
4. (transitive) (of a crack etc.) To allow a liquid to pass through, to leak.
   The crack is seeping water.
   If the crack is seeping water, the foam totally stops the leakage. 2015, Crack repair service, archived from the original on 2020-02-23
   Just when I thought I was done checking it over, I smelled coolant....remove the engine cover and bam! 1 inch crack is seeping coolant! 2009-04-16, Crownvic forums

noun

1. A small spring, pool, or other spot where liquid from the ground (e.g. water, petroleum or tar) has oozed to the surface; a place of seeping.
2. Moisture, liquid, gas, etc. that seeps out; a seepage.
3. The seeping away of a liquid, etc.
4. A seafloor vent.
   Another idea was that filamentous bacteria covering the hairs [of the Yeti crab] would either neutralize gases emitted from the vent or serve the crab directly as a food source. And this last idea received support when a second species of Yeti crab was discovered on cold seeps on the deep-sea floor near Costa Rica. 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 356