Noah Webster
Lea
LEA,
LEACH, verb transitive [See leak. Perhaps Latin lix may be from the same root.]
To wash, as ashes, by percolation, or causing water to pass through them, and thus to separate from them the alkali. The water thus charged with alkali, is called lye.
LEACH, noun A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.