GLEAN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Glean

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verb

Glean v. t. (past & past part. gleaned; pres. part. gleaning)

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."

To gather from (a field or vineyard) what is left.

To collect with patient and minute labor; to pick out; to obtain. "Content to glean what we can from... experiments."

Glean v. i.

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

To pick up or gather anything by degrees. "Piecemeal they this acre first, then that; Glean on, and gather up the whole estate."

noun

Glean n. A collection made by gleaning. "The gleans of yellow thyme distend his thighs."

Glean n. Cleaning; afterbirth. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Glean'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Glean" Quotes from Famous Books

... poetic fame The gods are blind and lame, And the simular despite Betrays the more abounding might, So call not waste that barren cone Above the floral zone, Where forests starve: It is pure use;— What sheaves like those which here we glean and bind Of a celestial Ceres and ...

— Poems - Household Edition • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... early that afternoon had walked Citywards to see the holiday aspect of the town and glean the latest war news, growing somewhat weary on his homeward journey of the humours of his fellow- citizens—which became beery and boisterous as the day drew on—turned in at the open gates of the Oratory, in passing along the Brompton Road. His purpose was to gain a little breathing ...

— The Far Horizon • Lucas Malet

... "the soul is fainting Till she search and learn her own, And the wisdom of man's painting Leaves her riddle half unknown. Come," you say, "the brain is seeking, While the sovran heart is dead; Yet this glean'd, when Gods were speaking, Rarer secrets than the ...

— Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold • Matthew Arnold

... whether to shorten sail or not. On the one hand, there was the apprehension of carrying away something; and, on the other, the fear of seeming timid in the eyes of the two or three seamen I had with me. I watched the countenances of these men, in order to glean their private sentiments; but, usually, Jack relies so much on his officers, that he seldom anticipates evils. As for Neb, the harder it blew, the greater was his rapture. He appeared to think the wind was Master ...

— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper

... supper, as they do not mind coming out at night. This afternoon we had old Caroline Swain who is seventy-nine and her sister Mary Glass who is ten years younger. Caroline has been more or less of an invalid for many years. We glean much of the past history of the island from the old people. They have been telling us of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in the Galatea in 1867, in honour of whom the Settlement is called Edinburgh. They remember well his having ...

— Three Years in Tristan da Cunha • K. M. Barrow

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