glean

CEFRC1

/ɡliːn/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To collect information slowly from different sources.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    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.

Examples

  • The connection is very slow. That's why I rarely find anything to glean from you.

  • What can you glean from his search history?

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ɡlin/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.

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

  3. 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.

More examples

In context

  • 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.

  • 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: […]

  • The gleane of a covv hauing nevvly calved, taken vvhiles it is moiſt and ſo applied, is good for any ulcers of the viſage.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

From the old documents, the historian was able to blank a few important facts.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The 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...