/ɡliːn/, /ɡlin/
OriginThe verb is derived from Late Middle English glenen (“to gather (heads of grain left by reapers), glean; to gather (things) together, collect”), from Old French glener, glainer (modern French glaner (“to gather, glean”)), from Late Latin glen(n)are, the present active infinitive of glen(n)ō (“to make a collection”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *glanos (“clean; clear”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to glow, shine; to be glowing or shining”).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English glene (“collection of heads of grain gathered by gleaning; head of grain”), from Old French glene, glane (“act of gleaning; legal right to glean”) (modern French glane (“act of gleaning”)), from glener, glainer (verb): see above.
cognates
* Medieval Latin glana, glena (“bundle of ears of grain”)
- transitiveTo collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest.
“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 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.”
“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, / ”
- transitiveTo collect fruit, grain, or other produce from (a field, an orchard, etc.), after the main gathering or harvest.
“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 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.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo 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.
“[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 ne”
“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 Bu”
“It is entertaining to obſerve hovv the ſeveral little Springs and Rills, that break out of the Sides of the Mountain, are glean'd up, and convey'd thro' little cover'd Channels into the main Hollovv o”
- figuratively, transitiveTo take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.
- figuratively, transitiveOf an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking (prey, mainly arthropods such as insects) from various places.
“Frigate birds glean a portion of their livelihood from the host of creatures which live at the surface of the ocean: flying-fishes, ctenophores, jelly-fishes, velela, janthina, and in fact anything th”
“Seen traveling and foraging in noisy flocks of 5 to 30 or more birds, gleaning insects, eggs, and larvae from shrubs and trees.”
- figuratively, obsolete, transitiveTo collect or gather (things) into one mass.
“Such ſlender arguments be gleaneth together agaynſt vs, ſeeking bye matters. But what ſhould he do? elſe ſhould he haue nought to furniſhe his counterblaſt withall.”
“Yes, that goodneſſe / Of gleaning all the Lands vvealth into one, / Into your ovvne hands (Card'nall) by Extortion: […]”
- figuratively, obsolete, transitiveTo cut off (straggling soldiers separated from their units) during a conflict; to isolate.
“And they turned and fled toward the wilderneſſe vnto the rocke of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the high wayes fiue thouſand men: and purſued hard after them vnto Gidom, and ſlew two thouſand me”
- intransitiveTo collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest.
“Put nat your horſes in to the corne felde yet for my folkes haue nat gleaned there yet: […]”
“In harvest tyme, whilest she myght goo and glyne; / And wher stoore was stroyed with the flodd / Then well awaye! for she undone was clene.”
“And ſhe [Ruth] ſaid, I pray you, let mee gleane and gather after the reapers amongſt the ſheaues: […]”
- intransitiveOf an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking prey, mainly arthropods such as insects, from various places.
“On migration, it [the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla)] appears as a sunny flash of gold in roadside shrubs or swamp thickets, refueling on insects gleaned from leaves or caught in midair forays.”
“The species [Keen's myotis (Myotis keenii)] takes flying and non-flying prey, suggesting it gleans as well as hawking; it has been observed hunting over water.”
- intransitive, obsoleteOf an animal, especially a cow or sheep: to deliver its afterbirth or placenta.
“To make a Covv glean vvell, and keep her in Health aftervvards.— […] And as it is a Cuſtom vvith ſome to give all their Covvs a cleanſing Drink after Calving, I recommend this to be a good one for tha”
- dialectalA collection of something made by gleaning.
“Even the greateſt, in reſpect of God, is but a gleaner. God, he is the Maſter of the Harveſt; all Gifts and Graces they are his, in an infinite meaſure; and every godly man, more or leſſe, gleanes fro”
“But late at Night, vvith vveary Pinions come / The lab'ring Youth, and heavy laden home. / Plains, Meads, and Orchards all the day he plies, / The gleans of yellovv Thime diſtend his Thighs: […]”
- obsoleteThe afterbirth or placenta of an animal, especially a cow or sheep.
“The gleane of a covv hauing nevvly calved, taken vvhiles it is moiſt and ſo applied, is good for any ulcers of the viſage.”
“[O]ur midvvives doe vvarrant, that if a vvoman drinke goats urine, it vvill ſtrip all fluxes of bloud be they never ſo immoderat, ſo that ſhe apply alſo outvvardly the dung of the ſaid beaſt. The pell”
“This Method of giving VVater to a nevv-calved Covv, vvherein Aſhes are thus put, is conſtantly practiſed by ſome to cleanſe her, and bring avvay her Glean.”
Formsgleans(present, singular, third-person) · gleaning(participle, present) · gleaned(participle, past) · gleaned(past) · glean(infinitive) · glean(first-person, present, singular) · gleaned(first-person, past, singular) · glean(present, second-person, singular) · gleanest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · gleaned(past, second-person, singular) · gleanedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · gleaneth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · gleaned(past, singular, third-person) · glean(plural, present) · gleaned(past, plural) · glean(present, subjunctive) · gleaned(past, subjunctive) · glean(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past) · gleans(plural)