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Webster 1913 Edition

Glean

Glean

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gleaned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Gleaning
.]
[OE.
glenen
, OF.
glener
,
glaner
, F.
glaner
, fr. LL.
glenare
; cf. W.
glan
clean,
glanh[GREEK]u
to clean, purify, or AS.
gelm
,
gilm
, a hand[GREEK]ul.]
1.
To gather after a reaper; to collect in scattered or fragmentary parcels, as the grain left by a reaper, or grapes left after the gathering.
To
glean
the broken ears after the man
That the main harvest reaps.
Shakespeare
2.
To gather from (a field or vineyard) what is left.
3.
To collect with patient and minute labor; to pick out; to obtain.
Content to
glean
what we can from . . . experiments.
Locke.

Glean

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To gather stalks or ears of grain left by reapers.
And she went, and came, and
gleaned
in the field after the reapers.
Ruth ii. 3.
2.
To pick up or gather anything by degrees.
Piecemeal they this acre first, then that;
Glean
on, and gather up the whole estate.
Pope.

Glean

,
Noun.
A collection made by gleaning.
The
gleans
of yellow thyme distend his thighs.
Dryden.

Glean

,
Noun.
Cleaning; afterbirth.
[Obs.]
Holland.

Webster 1828 Edition

Glean

GLEAN

, v.t.
1.
To gather the stalks and ears of grain which reapers leave behind them.
Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of
corn---Ruth 2.
2.
To collect things thinly scattered; to gather what is left in small parcels or numbers, or what is found in detached parcels; as, to glean a few passages from an author.
They gleaned of them in the highways five thousand
men. Judges 20.

GLEAN

,
Verb.
I.
To gather stalks or ears of grain left by reapers.
And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. Ruth 2.

GLEAN

,
Noun.
A collection made by gleaning, or by gathering here and there a little.
The gleans of yellow thyme distend his thighs.

Definition 2024

glean

glean

See also: gleam

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɡliːn/
  • Hyphenation: glean
  • Rhymes: -iːn

Verb

glean ‎(third-person singular simple present gleans, present participle gleaning, simple past and past participle gleaned)

Before the apparition of modern agriculture, women often had to glean.
  1. To collect (grain, grapes, etc.) left behind after the main harvest or gathering.
    • 1611, Bible (KJV):, Ruth 2:2,
      Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.
    • Shakespeare
      To glean the broken ears after the man / That the main harvest reaps.
  2. To gather what is left in (a field or vineyard).
    to glean a field
  3. To gather information in small amounts, with implied difficulty, bit by bit.
    • John Locke
      content to glean what we can from […] experiments
    • 8 December 2011, BBC News, Iran shows film of captured US drone, available in http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16098562 :
      He said Iran was "well aware of what priceless technological information" could be gleaned from the aircraft.
  4. To frugally accumulate resources from low-yield contexts.
    He gleaned a living from newspaper work for a few months, but in the summer went to a fishing village […] where […] he wrote his great historical drama, "Master Olof." (Translators Edith and Warner Oland on author August Strindberg.)
Synonyms
  • (pick up, gather, collect): lease
  • (gather information): learn
Translations

Noun

glean ‎(plural gleans)

  1. A collection made by gleaning.
    • Dryden
      The gleans of yellow thyme distend his thighs.

Etymology 2

Noun

glean

  1. (obsolete) cleaning; afterbirth
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English glenen, from Anglo-Norman glener, from Late Latin glen(n)ō ‎(“make a collection”), from Gaulish.

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