lean

See also: Léan

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: lēn, IPA(key): /liːn/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːn
  • Homophone: lien

Etymology 1

From Middle English lenen (“to lean”), from Old English hleonian, hlinian (“to lean, recline, lie down, rest”), from Proto-Germanic *hlinjaną (“to lean, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-. Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Middle Dutch leunen (“to lean”), German lehnen (“to lean”); via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned or (UK) leant)

  1. To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
    a leaning column
    She leaned out of the window.
  2. To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; with to, toward, etc.
    I'm leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      They delight rather to lean to their old customs.
  3. To rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.; with on, upon, or against.
    • Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
      He leaned not on his fathers but himself.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
  4. To hang outwards.
  5. To press against.
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      His fainting limbs against an oak he leant.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Noun

lean (plural leans)

  1. (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.
    The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy.
Synonyms
  • (inclination away from vertical): tilt

Etymology 2

From Middle English lene (“lean”), from Old English hlǣne (“lean”), (cognate with Low German leen), perhaps from hlǣnan (“to cause to lean (due to hunger or lack of food)”), from Proto-Germanic *hlainijaną (“to cause to lean”). If so, then related to Old English hlinian, hleonian (“to lean”).

Adjective

lean (comparative leaner, superlative leanest)

  1. (of a person or animal) slim; not fleshy.
  2. (of meat) having little fat.
  3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
    a lean budget; a lean harvest
  4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.
    A lean ore hardly worth mining.
    Running on too lean a fuel-air mixture will cause, among other problems, your internal combustion engine to heat up too much.
  5. (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
    lean copy, matter, or type
  6. efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing"
    lean accounting, lean approach, lean champion, lean implementation, lean leadership, lean management, lean manufacturing, lean methods, lean principles, lean production, lean processes, lean services, lean solution, lean strategy, lean systems, lean thinking, lean tools, lean vision
    Alcoa is now a lean and agile enterprise, after having split last year into two entities.
Synonyms
  • See also Thesaurus:scrawny
  • (Having a low proportion of a desired substance): deficient, dilute, poor
Antonyms
  • (Having a low proportion of a desired substance): rich
Translations

Noun

lean (uncountable)

  1. Meat with no fat on it.
    • Traditional rhyme
      Jack Sprat would eat no fat, / His wife would eat no lean.

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned)

  1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
    • 1938 July, Blaine and Dupont Miller, “Weather Hop”, in Boy's Life‎, Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, page 25:
      He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose.
    • 2002 July, Tom Benenson, “Can Your Engine Run Too Lean?”, in Flying‎, volume 129, number 7, ISSN 0015-4806, page 73:
      Even the Pilot's Operating Handbooks (POH) for our training airplanes add to our paranoia with their insistence that we not lean the mixture until we're above 5000 feet density altitude.

Etymology 3

From Icelandic leyna? Akin to German leugnen (“deny”). Compare lie (“speak falsely”).

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned)

  1. To conceal.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ray to this entry?)

Etymology 4

Probably from the verb to lean (see etymology 1 above), supposedly because consumption of the intoxicating beverage causes one to "lean".

Noun

lean (uncountable)

  1. (slang) A recreational drug based on codeine laced promethazine cough syrup, popular in the hip-hop community in the southern United States.
Synonyms

See also

References

  • lean in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • lean in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

lean

  1. third-person plural present subjunctive of ler

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ley- (“slimy”); compare Latin linō (“anoint”), līmus (“mud, slime”), Sanskrit लिनाति (lināti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

Verb

lean (present analytic leanann, future analytic leanfaidh, verbal noun leanúint, past participle leanta)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) follow
    1. continue; remain, endure

Conjugation

  • Alternative verbal noun: leanacht (Cois Fharraige)

Derived terms

Further reading

  • "lean" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • “lenaid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

  • (Kautokeino) IPA(key): /ˈlea̯n/

Verb

lean

  1. inflection of leat:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. past indicative connegative

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlæːɑn/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *launą, from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *leh₂u- (“catch, plunder, profit”). Cognate with Old Frisian lān, Old Saxon lōn, Dutch loon, Old High German lōn (German Lohn), Old Norse laun (Swedish lön), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌽 (laun). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek λεία (leía) (from *λαϝία), Latin lucrum, Old Church Slavonic ловъ (lovŭ) (Russian лов (lov)), Old Irish lóg, Lithuanian lãvinti.

Noun

lēan n

  1. reward

Declension

  • lēanian

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *lahaną. Cognate with Old Saxon lahan, Old High German lahan, Old Norse lá, Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌰𐌽 (laian).

Verb

lēan

  1. (transitive) to blame, find fault with, reproach
Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

  • third-person singular preterite: lōg
  • third-person plural preterite: lōgon

Descendants

  • Middle English: *lēen (attested in past tense lough)


Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ley- (“slimy”); compare Latin linō (“anoint”), Sanskrit लिनाति (lināti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʎɛn/

Verb

lean (past lean, future leanaidh, verbal noun leantainn or leanmhainn, past participle leanta)

  1. follow
  2. continue, proceed
    An lean an droch aimsir? ― Will the bad weather continue?

Derived terms

Spanish

Verb

lean

  1. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of leer.
  2. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of leer.
  3. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes?) present subjunctive form of leer.

West Frisian

Noun

lean n

  1. wage, wages, salary
  2. reward

Example

  • "Frank Lloyd Wright hat de baan krigen en syn earste lean wie 25 dollar yn 'e wike." (For his first salary, Frank Lloyd Wright received 25 dollars per week.)
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