Definition of "seep"

seep

/siːp/

verb
third-person singular simple present seeps, present participle seeping, simple past and past participle seeped
1. (intransitive) To ooze or pass slowly through pores or other small openings, and in overly small quantities; said of liquids, etc.
2. (intransitive, figurative) To enter or penetrate slowly; to spread or diffuse.
3. (intransitive, figurative) To diminish or wane away slowly.
4. (transitive) (of a crack etc.) To allow a liquid to pass through, to leak.
  Quotations
  If the crack is seeping water, the foam totally stops the leakage.
  2015, Crack repair service‎, archived from the original on 23 February 2020
  Just when I thought I was done checking it over, I smelled coolant....remove the engine cover and bam! 1 inch crack is seeping coolant!
  2009 April 16, Crownvic forums‎
noun
plural seeps
1. 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.
2. Moisture, liquid, gas, etc. that seeps out; a seepage.
3. The seeping away of a liquid, etc.
4. A seafloor vent.
  Quotations
  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.
  2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 356