Lean

Pronunciation

• enPR: lÄ“n, IPA: /liːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophones: lien

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

Full definition of lean

Verb

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, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 23, 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

• lean back
• leaning
• lean on
• lean-to

Related terms

• climate
• cline

From Middle English lene ("lean"), from Old English hlǣne ("lean"), perhaps from Old English hlǣnan ("to cause to lean", in the sense of "to cause to bend or 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

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. Of a fuel-air mixture, having more air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; more air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
5. (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.lean copy, matter, or type

Synonyms

Verb

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 , Blaine and Dupont Miller , Weather Hop , He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose.
• 2002 , Tom Benenson , Can Your Engine Run Too Lean? , 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.

Icelandic leyna?; akin to German word for "deny". Compare lie ("speak falsely").

Verb

1. To conceal.

Anagrams

• elan, élan, enal, Lane, lane, Lena, Neal