Meaning

To collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest..

Definitions by Sense

1. To collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest.
2. To gather (something, now chiefly something intangible such as experience or information) in small amounts over a period of time, often with some difficulty; to scrape together.
3. To take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.
4. Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking (prey, mainly arthropods such as insects) from various places.
5. To collect or gather (things) into one mass.
6. To cut off (straggling soldiers separated from their units) during a conflict; to isolate.
7. To collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest.
8. Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking prey, mainly arthropods such as insects, from various places.

Example Sentences

So holy, and ſo perfect is my loue, / And I in ſuch a pouerty of grace, / That I ſhall thinke it a moſt plenteous crop / To gleane the broken eares after the man / That the maine harueſt reapes: […]

And thou ſhalt not gleane thy vineyard, neither ſhalt thou gather euery grape of thy vineyard; thou ſhalt leaue them for the poore and ſtranger: I am the Lord your God.

And Ruth the Moabiteſſe ſaide vnto Naomi, Let me now goe to the field, and gleane eares of corne after him, in whoſe ſight I ſhall finde grace.

And thus ſhe vvent compell'd / By ſtrong neceſſity, vvith as ſerene, / And pleas'd a look as patience can put on, / To glean Palæmon's fields.

He [the Calydonian boar] ruined vineyards lying in the sun, / After his harvesting the men must glean / What he had left; right glad they had not been / Among the tall stalks of the ripening wheat, / The fell destroyer's fatal tusks to meet.

Some harvest loss was gleaned by animals, although little information is available on the proportion of harvest loss gleaned and no hard data is available on the quantity. Academic researchers told us that as much as one-third of the corn lost in harvest was gleaned.

[Ferdinand] Magellan ſoone after ſailes yet more South, and paſſes that Fretum or ſtrait, vvith more reaſon called Magellan, a hundred others haue ſince that gleaned ſeueral additions of Titles and nevv names their diſtributed.

In the Knovvledge of Bodies, vve muſt be content to glean vvhat vve can from particular Experiments, ſince vve cannot from a Diſcovery of their real Eſſences, graſp at a time vvhole Sheaves; and in Bundles, comprehend the Nature and Properties of vvhole Species together.

Word Forms

• gleans
• gleaning
• gleaned
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• glean
• gleanest
• gleanedst
• gleaneth
• -

Synonyms for glean

Related Words

When Should You Use Glean?

Use glean when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions