LEAN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Lean

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verb

Lean v. t. (past & past part. leant or leaned; pres. part. leaning) To conceal. (Obs.)

Lean v. t. (past & past part. leant or leaned; pres. part. leaning) To cause to lean; to incline; to support or rest. "His fainting limbs against an oak he leant."

Lean v. i. (past & past part. leant or leaned; pres. part. leaning)

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. "He leant forward."

To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; with to, toward, etc. "They delight rather to lean to their old customs."

To rest or rely, for support, comfort, and the like; with on, upon, or against. "He leaned not on his fathers but himself."

adjective

Lean adj. (compar. leaner; superl. leanest)

Wanting flesh; destitute of or deficient in fat; slim; not plump; slender; meager; thin; lank; as, a lean body; a lean cattle.

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. "No lean wardrobe." "Their lean and flashy songs." "What the land is, whether it be fat or lean." "Out of my lean and low ability I'll lend you something."

(Typog.) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat; as, lean copy, matter, or type.

Synonyms: slender; spare; thin; meager; lank; skinny; gaunt.

noun

Lean n.

That part of flesh which consists principally of muscle without the fat. "The fat was so white and the lean was so ruddy."

(Typog.) Unremunerative copy or work.

See images of 'Lean'

Etymology of 'Lean'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lean" Quotes from Famous Books

... out. It was quite dark, but the rain had nearly ceased. With his wheel-barrow and shovel he went to a ravine close by and obtained a load of clay, which he easily threw up on the roof of the low "lean-to"; then he climbed up and patched the holes. A half hour's work and it ...

— Added Upon - A Story • Nephi Anderson

... no doubt about it, for the blacks had seen it, and they laughed as they saw their passenger shrink to the other side and lean ...

— King o' the Beach - A Tropic Tale • George Manville Fenn

... there, a motionless figure, flaring against the dark jungle in his spotless, white linen evening dress. There was a broad silk cummerband about his lean waist, and a gold signet-ring gleamed on his left hand. Half a dozen Englishmen, thread for thread in similar garb, still lounged in the Collector's drawing-room. He appeared the very symbol of ...

— Golden Stories - A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers • Various

... architect had not lacked grandeur of conception nor good taste when building such large corridors, massive staircases, lofty vestibules, and spacious, resounding rooms. That given to the Queen was like an alcove, decorated by six large marble caryatides, joined by a handsome balustrade high enough to lean upon. The four-post bed was of azure blue velvet, with flowered work and rich gold and silver tasselling. Over the chimneypiece was the huge Bleink-Elmeink coat-of-arms, supported by ...

— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... to come and speak with him in the parliament chamber. And when I came to him he was in a little chamber within the parliament chamber, where, as I remember, stood an altar, or a thing like unto an altar, whereupon he did lean and, as I do think, the same time the Bishop of Bath was talking with him. And then he said this to me, I am very glad to hear the good report that goeth of you, and that ye be so good a Catholic man as ye be. And ...

— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

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