Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A strong, especially sexual desire or craving.
  • noun A lecher.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An almost stagnant ditch.
  • noun Same as leach.
  • noun Strong desire; an itching; a crotchet.
  • Same as leach.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb See leach.
  • noun Archaic Strong desire; passion; especially, lust.
  • noun slang A lecher.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stream or pool in boggy land.
  • noun archaic Strong desire; passion.
  • noun informal Someone with an overly strong sexual desire.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun man with strong sexual desires

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps back-formation from obsolete letcher, variant of lecher.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From loec - later lache, variant letch - for example Sandy's Letch located east of Annitsford in Northumberland.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See lech, lecher.

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Examples

  • And that's really what it comes down to anyway: Whatever you think of the pictures, even if you've got a problem with the fact that the photographer who took them is kind of a notorious letch, the fact remains that the two adult women -- and one adult man, for that matter -- willingly went along with the shoot and did it for a magazine aimed at fellow adults.

    Chez Pazienza: Live Semi-Nude Glee Girls Chez Pazienza 2010

  • It takes a good deal of time to explain why a harassed lawyer, his domineering mother-in-law, narcoleptic uncle, his ex-cook and a fellow legal letch should all arrive at a Parisian lovenest on the same night.

    Once Bitten – review 2011

  • June 10, 2009 10: 36 AM him: super letch her: get your hand OFF me!

    What were they thinking? (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Did O'Brien or that letch Letterman go out an do free shows for those savaged economically.

    Leno the Loner 2010

  • Did O'Brien or that letch Letterman go out an do free shows for those savaged economically.

    Leno the Loner 2010

  • Did O'Brien or that letch Letterman go out an do free shows for those savaged economically.

    Leno the Loner 2010

  • Tim McInnerny is a calculating Judge Brack, a closet letch, who sees through Hedda's steely veener, while Colin Tierney as the relapsing alcoholic writer, Loevborg, still under Hedda's spell, plays his vulnerability subtly.

    Adrian Noble's 'Hedda Gabler' Rises to the Challenge 2010

  • Did O'Brien or that letch Letterman go out an do free shows for those savaged economically.

    Leno the Loner 2010

  • Tim McInnerny is a calculating Judge Brack, a closet letch, who sees through Hedda's steely veener, while Colin Tierney as the relapsing alcoholic writer, Loevborg, still under Hedda's spell, plays his vulnerability subtly.

    Adrian Noble's 'Hedda Gabler' Rises to the Challenge 2010

  • Tim McInnerny is a calculating Judge Brack, a closet letch, who sees through Hedda's steely veener, while Colin Tierney as the relapsing alcoholic writer, Loevborg, still under Hedda's spell, plays his vulnerability subtly.

    Adrian Noble's 'Hedda Gabler' Rises to the Challenge Elizabeth Fitzherbert 2010

Comments

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  • Lecherous. Pronounced like 'Betch'. For those unable to properly articulate or otherwise navigate the complex series of syllables required to brand another as such slang for liking, to the seductive degree.

    July 16, 2008

  • I've also heard it used as a verb, meaning a cross between leering and flirting.

    July 16, 2008

  • "He didn't letch after me, and he didn't seem to want anything from me."-Dead as a Doornail, by Charlaine Harris

    May 19, 2011