leaner


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Related to leaner: cleaner, gleaner

lean 1

 (lēn)
v. leaned, lean·ing, leans
v.intr.
1. To bend or slant away from the vertical.
2. To incline the weight of the body so as to be supported: leaning against the doorpost. See Synonyms at slant.
3. To rely for assistance or support: Lean on me for help.
4. To have a tendency or preference: a government that leans toward fascism.
5. Informal To exert pressure: The boss is leaning on us to meet the deadline.
v.tr.
1. To set or place so as to be resting or supported: leaned the ladder against the wall.
2. To cause to incline: leaned the boards so the rain would run off.
n.
A tilt or an inclination away from the vertical.

[Middle English lenen, from Old English hleonian; see klei- in Indo-European roots.]

lean 2

 (lēn)
adj. lean·er, lean·est
1.
a. Not fleshy or fat; thin.
b. Containing little fat or less fat relative to a standard: lean hamburger.
2.
a. Not productive or prosperous; meager: lean years.
b. Containing little excess or waste; spare: a lean budget.
c. Thrifty in management, especially by employing just enough people to accomplish a task or do business: "Company leaders know their industries must be lean to survive" (Christian Science Monitor).
3.
a. Metallurgy Low in mineral contents: lean ore.
b. Chemistry Lacking in combustible material: lean fuel.
n.
Meat with little or no fat.

[Middle English lene, from Old English hlǣne.]

lean′ly adv.
lean′ness n.
Synonyms: lean2, skinny, scrawny, lank, lanky, gaunt
These adjectives mean lacking excess flesh. Lean emphasizes absence of fat but usually suggests good health: The farmer fattened the lean cattle for market. Skinny and scrawny imply unattractive thinness, as from undernourishment: "His face and belly were so round, and his arms so skinny, that he looked like a dough ball with four sticks stuck into it" (John Green)."He [had] a long, scrawny neck that rose out of a very low collar" (Winston Churchill).
Lank describes one who is thin and tall, and lanky one who is thin, tall, and ungraceful: "He was ... exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders" (Washington Irving).
The boy had developed into a lanky adolescent. Gaunt implies boniness and a haggard appearance; it may suggest illness or hardship: a white-haired pioneer, her face gaunt from overwork.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.leaner - (horseshoes) the throw of a horseshoe so as to lean against (but not encircle) the stake
throw - the act of throwing (propelling something with a rapid movement of the arm and wrist); "the catcher made a good throw to second base"
horseshoes, quoits - a game in which iron rings (or open iron rings) are thrown at a stake in the ground in the hope of encircling it
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
So they were soon fat and there was an end of them, but I grew leaner day by day, for I ate but little, and even that little did me no good by reason of my fear of what lay before me.
The brown face was leaner, the skin drawn tightly across the cheekbones.
Older than her brother, taller than her brother, leaner than her brother--with strange stony eyes, and a skin like parchment--she looked (if I may speak in contradictions) like a living corpse.
His body seemed leaner, because of the swarthiness of the skin.
Her white face, in the frame of her mantilla, looked longer, leaner than usual.
There was a rather depressed silence; the room was darkening, the sea-blighted boughs of the garden trees looked leaner and blacker than ever, yet they seemed to have come nearer to the window.
Toads who paid rent were naturally leaner. As for the house, it was not less remarkable; it had a receding centre, and two wings with battlemented turrets, and was covered with glittering white stucco.
Aye, aye, Starbuck, 'tis sweet to lean sometimes, be the leaner who he will; and would old Ahab had leaned oftener than he has.
Some elements of the contract, such as welfare reform, a balanced-budget amendment and proposed changes to the crime bill, will only result in leaner resources and meaner streets, as many mayors know.
But as the decade wore on, profits were hard-hit by competition, and Hooper's job in Canada was to try to bring the organization's bulging overhead into line with leaner times.
In their place was something much leaner, a sequence of sculptures that reflect a pared-down and desiccating vision, seemingly the residue of the artist's determination to probe and experiment.
Those looking at leaner budgets are discussing ways to increase reserve funds, lower maintenance costs or stabilize rents.