lean1
/liːn
/verb (past and past participle leaned /liːnd/ /lɛnt/ or chiefly British leant /lɛnt/) [no object, with adverbial]
1Be in or move into a sloping position: he leaned back in his chair...
- He leaned forward and pointed to a list of five names on the second page in the folder.
- She leaned forward onto her elbows and buried her face in her arms, weeping bitterly.
- Carolyn leaned forward in her plush seat as the large house came into the view at the end of the long drive.
Synonyms
slant, incline, bend, tilt, be at an angle, slope, tip, bank, list, heel, careen, cant, bias, veer, sway, angle
1.1 (lean against/on) Incline from the perpendicular and rest for support against (something): a man was leaning against the wall...
- My right side leant against the wall for support once I got out of the elevator.
- He dismounted and strode off to a nearby tree; he leant against it and rested.
- Her kneeling body involuntarily leans against David for support.
Synonyms
rest, be propped up, recline, be supported
1.2 [with object] (lean something against/on) Cause something to rest against: he leaned his elbows on the table...
- He leans his elbow on the desk and rests his forehead in his hand, sighing.
- ‘I think I've gotten too much information tonight,’ he groaned, leaning his elbows on his knees and resting his chin in one hand.
- She leaned her elbows on the windowsill, resting her chin in her hands.
noun
A deviation from the perpendicular; an inclination: the vehicle has a definite lean to the left...
- Their limbs stretch out, yawning and dipping into spirals, leans and lifts.
Phrases
lean over backwards
Phrasal verbs
lean on
lean to/towards
Origin
Old English hleonian, hlinian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leunen and German lehnen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin inclinare and Greek klinein.
The two words spelled lean are of different origins. Both are Old English, but the one meaning ‘be in a sloping position’ shares a root of Latin clinare, as in incline (Middle English); decline (Late Middle English); and recline (Late Middle English). We sometimes talk of lean years or a lean period. This expression comes from the story of Joseph in the Bible. He successfully interprets Pharaoh's disturbing dream, in which seven plump, healthy cattle come out of the river and begin to feed. Seven lean, malnourished animals then leave the river and proceed to eat the plump cattle. According to Joseph's interpretation, there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven lean years. Pharaoh, impressed by Joseph, appoints him vice-regent to prepare the country for the ordeal of the seven lean years. A person who is lean and hungry is active and alert-looking. The phrase comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar—‘Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look.’
Rhymes
lean2
/liːn/adjective
1(Of a person or animal) thin, especially healthily so; having no superfluous fat: his lean, muscular body...
- He was more lean than muscular, though not out of shape.
- I would like to start with the popular story of the fat dog and the lean wolf, which was in circulation during my student days in Sambalpur in Orissa in the late 1970s.
- He was lean and wiry, but muscled, and there was strength in him.
Synonyms
slim, thin, slender, rangy, spare, wiry, slight;
lissom, svelte, willowy, sylphlike;
skinny, scrawny, scraggy, lanky, lank, bony, gaunt, emaciated, skin and bones, raw-boned, rangy, gangling, spindly, skeletal, size-zero, angular, pinched
1.1(Of meat) containing little fat: lean bacon...
- The lean meat was cut in slivers, arranged on crisp falafel cake, and crowned with a spoonful of tangy green-pepper relish.
- For low-fat meats, choose lean cuts of meat and trim away as much visible fat as possible…
- Look for lean cuts of these meats with minimal visible fat.
Synonyms
non-fatty, unfatty
1.2(Of an industry or company) efficient and with no wastage: staff were pruned, ostensibly to produce a leaner and fitter organization...
- I do have an agent, but the industry is notoriously lean.
- The industry is lean today and clearly we need to build relationships with other travel entities that can help us create a total package.
- We've seen a reduction in wages and terms conditions, to get what they see as a lean industry, which is a disgrace.
2Offering little reward, substance, or nourishment; meagre: the lean winter months keep a small reserve to tide you over the lean years...
- If you can survive it through the lean years, then you'll be OK later.
- Throughout the lean years of the depression, Smith was never out of work.
- I think it is important for you to share with children how things were in the lean years of your family.
Synonyms
meagre, scanty, sparse, poor, scant, mean, inadequate, insufficient, paltry, limited, restricted, modest, deficient, insubstantial, slight
unproductive, unfruitful, unprofitable, unremunerative, arid, barren;
hard, bad, difficult, tough, impoverished, poverty-stricken, moneyless
3(Of a vaporized fuel mixture) having a high proportion of air: lean air-to-fuel ratios...
- The down side is that the lean mixtures sacrifice peak power.
- As a result, the engine would run rough due to the lean mixture at all cylinders.
- The dual ignition system also allows for an extremely lean fuel-air mixture and late ignition timing during warm-up.
noun [mass noun]
The lean part of meat: the man who eats no fat and the wife who eats no lean...
- Traditionally, meat with yellow fat and dark lean has been deemed a lesser quality product at the retail level.
- Max Conrad used lean of peak to set distance records in his Comanche in the 1960s when he flew over 7,600 miles nonstop.
Derivatives
leanly
- The stigma [for failure] is less because we staff projects leanly and encourage them to just move, move, move.
- The experiences gained by the management of organizations go a long way in helping us leanly operate our churches.
- It has operated leanly in the field and in Washington.
leanness
/ noun ...- The table for border weight of excessive leanness was presented to female college students and the validity of the table was assessed through a questionnaire.
- In particular, the combination of training and nutrition in this program are designed to get you to your desired leanness while maintaining or even increasing muscle mass.
- Disclosed herein are genetic markers for pig leanness, methods for identifying such markers, and methods of screening pigs to determine those more or less likely to be obese.
Origin
Old English hlǣne, of Germanic origin.