medicinal leech: Meaning and Definition of

medic'inal leech'

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a bloodsucking leech, Hirudo medicinalis, of Europe, introduced into the northeastern U.S., usually green with brown stripes, up to 4 in. (10 cm) long: once used by physicians to bleed patients.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.