Category:Glean

Glean, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gleaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Gleaning.] Etym: [OE. glenen, OF. glener, glaner, F. glaner, fr. LL. glenare; cf. W. glan clean, glanh to clean, purify, or AS. gelm, gilm, a hand

1. To gather after a reaper; to collect in scattered or fragmentary parcels, as the grain left by a reaper, or grapes left after the gathering. To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps. Shak.

2. To gather from (a field or vineyard) what is left.

3. To collect with patient and minute labor; to pick out; to obtain. Content to glean what we can from. . . experiments. Locke.

glean Glean, v. i.

1. To gather stalks or ears of grain left by reapers. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. Ruth 2:3.

2. To pick up or gather anything by degrees. Piecemeal they this acre first, then that; Glean on, and gather up the whole estate. Pope.

glean Glean, n.

Defn: A collection made by gleaning. The gleans of yellow thyme distend his thighs. Dryden.

glean Glean, n.

Defn: Cleaning; afterbirth. [Obs.] Holland.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Glean - The corners of fields were not to be reaped, and the sheaf accidentally left behind was not to be fetched away, according to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9; Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:21). They were to be left for the poor to glean. Similar laws were given regarding vineyards and oliveyards. (Compare Ruth 2:2.)