letches

noun

1. a lecherous desire or craving.
2. a lecher.
3. any strong desire or liking.

verb (used without object)

4. to behave like a lecher (often followed by for or after).

verb, noun

1. a variant spelling of lech

n.“craving, longing,” 1796, perhaps a back-formation from lecher, or from a figurative use of latch (v.) in a secondary sense of “grasp, grasp on to.”