seep
noun
- type of spring
verb
- leak fluid
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /siːp/
noun
Etymology: Variant of sipe, from Middle English *sipen, from Old English sipian, from Proto-Germanic *sipōną, derivative of *sīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *sib- (“to pour out, drip, trickle”). See also Middle Dutch sīpen (“to drip”), German Low German siepern (“to seep”), archaic German seifen (“to trickle blood”); also Latin sēbum (“suet, tallow”), Ancient Greek εἴβω (eíbō, “to drop, drip”)). See soap.
- 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.
- Moisture, liquid, gas, etc. that seeps out; a seepage.
- The seeping away of a liquid, etc.
- 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.”
verb
Etymology: Variant of sipe, from Middle English *sipen, from Old English sipian, from Proto-Germanic *sipōną, derivative of *sīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *sib- (“to pour out, drip, trickle”). See also Middle Dutch sīpen (“to drip”), German Low German siepern (“to seep”), archaic German seifen (“to trickle blood”); also Latin sēbum (“suet, tallow”), Ancient Greek εἴβω (eíbō, “to drop, drip”)). See soap.
- 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.”
- 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.”
- To diminish or wane away slowly.
“The resistance movement against the invaders had slowly seeped away.”
- (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.”
- To soak.
“wi' the weet / We're seepit to the skin”
“a young lad's mind, whilk had seeped in, for many a day, the rain of adversity”