glean
verb (used with object)
to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.
were gleaning
-
past progressiveof glean.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Experts said they were gleaning lessons from the blaze, especially in making forests more resilient to fire.
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
But the officials have said that the dossier added material and buttressed what American law enforcement and spy agencies were gleaning from other sources.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2018
Our knowledge was basically what we were gleaning from headlines.
From Time ● Sep. 24, 2010
“The Nixon Defense” offers tantalizing hints that White House aides were gleaning information from the telephone wiretap that had been secretly placed in the DNC’s Watergate headquarters.
From Washington Post
The cattle were gleaning a scanty meal from the shorn pastures,--they raised their heads to look after the carriage as it passed, or to rub their necks against some dried old stump of a tree.
From Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Wilhelmine von Hillern
