glean

[gleen]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR glean ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.

to gather (grain or the like) after the reapers or regular gatherers.

to learn, discover, or find out, usually little by little or slowly.

verb (used without object)

to collect or gather anything little by little or slowly.

to gather what is left by reapers.

Origin of glean

1350–1400; Middle English glenen < Old French glener < Late Latin glennāre ≪ Celtic

Related formsglean·a·ble, adjectiveglean·er, nounun·gleaned, adjective

Synonyms for glean

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR glean ON THESAURUS.COM

3. garner, deduce, infer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for gleaner

rancher, peasant, laborer, producer, grower, tender, reaper, gardener, agriculturist, clodhopper, horticulturist, villein, homesteader, feeder, planter, agriculturalist, cropper, sower, sharecropper, tiller

Examples from the Web for gleaner

Contemporary Examples of gleaner

Even after being diagnosed with tennis elbow, she continued working as a gleaner at a garlic farm.
Rush Limbaugh Wrongly Attacks Tracie McMillan as ‘Over-Educated’ ‘Authorette’
Clarissa León
March 15, 2012

Historical Examples of gleaner

We will here give a copy of what happened in 1732, and which we inserted in the Gleaner (Glaneur), No.
The Phantom World
Augustin Calmet
It is the last 'scoop' that I have to offer to the Gleaner, but it is the biggest of all!
The Sins of Sverac Bablon
Sax Rohmer
Sheard, of the Gleaner, pressed forward and grasped both his hands.
The Sins of Sverac Bablon
Sax Rohmer
The Gleaner assured its many readers that such was indeed the case.
The Sins of Sverac Bablon
Sax Rohmer
If he could once introduce his gleaner in Venice, he should be a made man.
Ragged Lady, Complete
William Dean Howells

British Dictionary definitions for gleaner

glean

verb

to gather (something) slowly and carefully in small piecesto glean information from the newspapers

to gather (the useful remnants of a crop) from the field after harvesting

Derived Formsgleanable, adjectivegleaner, noun

Word Origin for glean

C14: from Old French glener, from Late Latin glennāre, probably of Celtic origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gleaner

mid-15c., agent noun from glean (v.).

glean

early 14c., from Old French glener (Modern French glaner) "to glean," from Late Latin glennare "make a collection," perhaps from Gaulish (cf. Old Irish do-glinn "he collects, gathers," Celt. glan "clean, pure"). Figurative sense was earlier in English than the literal one of "gather grain left by the reapers" (late 14c.). Related: Gleaned; gleaning.