Definition of "leak" []

• To permit the escape, entry, or passage of something through a breach or flaw: rusted pipes that were beginning to leak; a boat leaking at the seams. (verb-intransitive)
• To escape or pass through a breach or flaw: helium leaking slowly from the balloon. (verb-intransitive)
• Informal To become publicly known through a breach of secrecy: The news has leaked. (verb-intransitive)
• To permit (a substance) to escape or pass through a breach or flaw: a damaged reactor leaking radioactivity into the atmosphere. (verb-transitive)
• Informal To disclose without authorization or official sanction: leaked classified information to a reporter. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Let the word leak out that you knew there was a chance he went missing but refused to say anything."
• "The best chance at stopping the leak is a relief well, which is at least two months from completion."
• "From what I can tell, the primary significance of the leak is the act itself: the sheer comeuppance of it."