You can debate whether "leverage" comes from the noun or verb form of "lever" (which both exist, and the "-age" pattern is used for both nouns and verbs), but t

You can debate whether "leverage" comes from the noun or verb form of "lever" (which both exist, and the "-age" pattern is used for both nouns and verbs), but the main point is that "leverage" used as a verb breaks prior usage of "-age" in exactly the way I described. "leverage" has been used as a noun for centuries, but as a verb for only decades. It's a recent neologism.