leeching
Bloodsucking worm therapy
Leeching is the practice of taking from others without contributing—draining resources, bandwidth, or effort while giving nothing back.
In file-sharing networks, a leecher downloads without uploading: He's just leeching off the torrent without seeding.
More broadly, it describes parasitic behavior: She's been leeching off her parents for years.
The older sense refers to applying leeches medicinally to draw blood.
Organism feeding on plasma
feeding · infestation · parasite · vampire · engorged · aquatic · swamp · pond
One who cadges habitually
- freeloaderOne exploiting others' generosity
- spongeAbsorbent cleaning material
- parasiteOne exploiting a host
- drainChannel for wastewater
exploit · dependency · hanger-on · scrounger · siphoning · user · taker · mooch
Extracting blood medically
- anticoagulantSubstance preventing blood clots
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- healingRestoration of health
- cuppingSkin suction healing method
detoxification · purification · swelling · edema · inflammation · wound · surgical · sanguineous
bloodsucker
Organism feeding on plasma
attach · feeding · infestation · parasite · vampire · engorged · aquatic · swamp · pond · segmented
moocher
One who cadges habitually
- freeloaderOne exploiting others' generosity
- spongeAbsorbent cleaning material
- parasiteOne exploiting a host
drain · exploit · dependency · hanger-on · scrounger · siphoning · user · taker · mooch · bloodsucker
phlebotomy
Extracting blood medically
- anticoagulantSubstance preventing blood clots
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- healingRestoration of health
cupping · detoxification · purification · swelling · edema · inflammation · wound · surgical · sanguineous · analgesic
- extraction methodsjuicing, pressing, squeezing, milking, draining
- file sharingfile sharing, file transfer, P2P, peer to peer, peer-to-peer
- medical historyHippocrates, germ theory, Galen, four humors, humors
- medieval medicinefour humors, humors, barber-surgeons, plague doctor, phlebotomy
- old curespurging, cupping, bleeding, phlebotomy, emetics
- old medicinecupping, barber-surgeon, humors, trephination, four humors
leechingcontributing
Giving to a cause
giving · donating · replenishing · providing · supplying
leechingself-reliance
Depending on oneself alone
self-sufficiency · independence · earning · working · self-sustaining
leechingsymbiosis
Interspecies biological interdependence
mutualism · reciprocating · giving back · mutual exchange · cooperating