Word Study
lean
CIDE DICTIONARY
lean, v. t. [Icel. leyna; akin to G. läugnen to deny, AS. l, also E. lie to speak falsely.].
To conceal. Ray. [1913 Webster]
lean, v. i. [OE. lenen, AS. hlinian, hleonian, v. i. ; akin to OS. hlinōn, D. leunen, OHG. hlinēn, linēn, G. lehnen, L. inclinare, Gr. kli`nein, L. clivus hill, slope. Declivity, Climax, Incline, Ladder.].
- To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating; as, she leaned out at the window; a leaning column. Dickens. [1913 Webster]
- To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; -- with
to ,toward , etc. [1913 Webster]"They delight rather to lean to their old customs." [1913 Webster] - To rest or rely, for support, comfort, and the like; -- with
on ,upon , oragainst . [1913 Webster]"He leaned not on his fathers but himself." [1913 Webster]
To cause to lean; to incline; to support or rest. Mrs. Browning. [1913 Webster]
"His fainting limbs against an oak he leant." [1913 Webster]
lean, a. [OE. lene, AS. hl; prob. akin to E. lean to incline. See Lean, v. i. ].
- Wanting flesh; destitute of or deficient in fat; slim; not plump; slender; meager; thin; lank; as, a lean body; a lean cattle. [1913 Webster]
- Wanting fullness, richness, sufficiency, or productiveness; deficient in quality or contents; slender; scant; barren; bare; mean; -- used literally and figuratively; as, the lean harvest; a lean purse; a lean discourse; lean wages. Shak. [1913 Webster]"Their lean and flashy songs." [1913 Webster]"What the land is, whether it be fat or lean." [1913 Webster]"Out of my lean and low ability
I'll lend you something." [1913 Webster] - Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; -- opposed to
fat ; as, lean copy, matter, or type. [1913 Webster]
Syn. -- slender; spare; thin; meager; lank; skinny; gaunt.
lean, n.
- That part of flesh which consists principally of muscle without the fat. [1913 Webster]"The fat was so white and the lean was so ruddy." [1913 Webster]
- Unremunerative copy or work. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
lean, v. & n.
--v. (past and past part. leaned or leant)
1 intr. & tr. (often foll. by across, back, over, etc.) be or place in a sloping position; incline from the perpendicular.
2 intr. & tr. (foll. by against, on, upon) rest or cause to rest for support against etc.
3 intr. (foll. by on, upon) rely on; derive support from.
4 intr. (foll. by to, towards) be inclined or partial to; have a tendency towards.
--n. a deviation from the perpendicular; an inclination (has a decided lean to the right).
--v. (past and past part. leaned or leant)
1 intr. & tr. (often foll. by across, back, over, etc.) be or place in a sloping position; incline from the perpendicular.
2 intr. & tr. (foll. by against, on, upon) rest or cause to rest for support against etc.
3 intr. (foll. by on, upon) rely on; derive support from.
4 intr. (foll. by to, towards) be inclined or partial to; have a tendency towards.
--n. a deviation from the perpendicular; an inclination (has a decided lean to the right).
Idiom
lean on colloq. put pressure on (a person) to act in a certain way. lean over backwards see BACKWARDS. lean-to (pl. -tos) a building with its roof leaning against a larger building or a wall.
lean, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 (of a person or animal) thin; having no superfluous fat.
2 (of meat) containing little fat.
3 a meagre; of poor quality (lean crop). b not nourishing (lean diet).
4 unremunerative.
--n. the lean part of meat.
--adj.
1 (of a person or animal) thin; having no superfluous fat.
2 (of meat) containing little fat.
3 a meagre; of poor quality (lean crop). b not nourishing (lean diet).
4 unremunerative.
--n. the lean part of meat.
Idiom
lean years years of scarcity.
Derivative
leanly adv. leanness n.
Etymology
OE hl{aelig}ne f. Gmc
THESAURUS
lean
Lenten, Spartan, abstemious, acquiesce, agree, angular, angularity, arid, ascend, ascetic, austere, bad, bald, bank, bare, barren, be agreeable to, be dying to, be eager, be game, be open to, be ready, be spoiling for, be willing, believe in, bend, bend to, bias, bony, candid, cant, careen, climb, collaborate, common, commonplace, conduce, consent, contribute, cooperate, count on, cow, curve, decline, deflect, depend on, descend, destitute, difficult, dip, direct, dispose, divert, drop, dry, dull, dwarfed, dwarfish, emaciated, endanger, exiguous, fall, fall away, fall off, favor, flat, flat-chested, fleshless, frank, frighten, frugal, gangling, gangly, gaunt, gawky, go, go along with, go downhill, go uphill, grade, gradient, gravitate, haggard, hard, have a tendency, head, heel, homely, homespun, imperil, impoverished, inclination, incline, indigent, infertile, intimidate, jejune, keel, lank, lanky, lead, lean on, lean towards, lean-fleshed, lean-looking, leaning, leaning tower, limited, list, look, look kindly upon, look to, matter-of-fact, meager, mean, menace, miserly, narrow, natural, neat, necessitous, needy, niggardly, not hesitate to, open, paltry, parsimonious, penurious, pinched, pitch, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, plunge, plunge into, point, point to, poor, poverty-stricken, precipitate, prefer, pressure, prosaic, prosing, prosy, puny, pure, rake, rangy, rawboned, recline, redound to, rely on, retreat, rightful, rise, rustic, scant, scanty, scare, scraggy, scrawny, scrimp, scrimpy, serve, set, set toward, settle, severe, sheer, shelve, show a tendency, shrunken, sidle, simple, simple-speaking, sink, skeletal, skimp, skimpy, skinny, slant, slender, slight, slim, slope, small, sober, spare, sparing, sparse, spidery, spindling, spindly, stark, starvation, stingy, stinted, straightforward, straitened, stunted, subside, subsistence, swag, sway, tend, tend to go, terrify, terrorize, thin, thin-bellied, thin-fleshed, threaten, tilt, tip, tower of Pisa, trend, trust in, turn, twiggy, unadorned, unaffected, undersized, underweight, unfruitful, unimaginative, unnourishing, unnutritious, unpoetical, unproductive, unvarnished, uprise, verge, warn, warp, wasted, watered, watery, wiry, work toward, would as leave, would as liefROGET THESAURUS
lean
Thinness
N narrowness, thinness, narrowness, closeness, exility, exiguity, line, hair's breadth, finger's breadth, strip, streak, vein, monolayer, epitaxial deposition, thinness, tenuity, emaciation, macilency, marcor, shaving, slip, thread paper, skeleton, shadow, anatomy, spindleshanks, lantern jaws, mere skin and bone, middle constriction, stricture, neck, waist, isthmus, wasp, hourglass, ridge, ghaut, ghat, pass, ravine, narrowing, coarctation, angustation, tapering, contraction, narrow, close, slender, thin, fine, thread-like, finespun, gossamer, paper-thin, taper, slim, slight-made, scant, scanty, spare, delicate, incapacious, contracted, unexpanded &c (expand), slender as a thread, emaciated, lean, meager, gaunt, macilent, lank, lanky, weedy, skinny, scrawny slinky, starved, starveling, herring gutted, worn to a shadow, lean as a rake, thin as a lath, thin as a whipping post, thin as a wafer, hatchet-faced, lantern-jawed, attenuated, shriveled, extenuated, tabid, marcid, barebone, rawboned, monomolecular.For further exploring for "lean" in Webster Dictionary Online
