Pronunciations (3)
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/ˈliːn/
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[ˈlɪi̯n]
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[ˈlɪ̈i̯n]
Verb
To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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a leaning column
She leaned out of the window.
More examples (1)
In Pisa, where [Galileo] was born, I climbed the worn steps of the tower that has been leaning southward almost from the day it was built in the 13th century.
To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.
Usage- copulative
- Examples
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I’m leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election.
The Hispanic vote leans Democratic.
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But you ſay they do not accept of them, but delight rather to lean to their old Cuſtoms and Brehon Laws, though they be more unjuſt and alſo more inconvenient for the common People, as by your late Relation of them I have gathered.
To rest or rely, for support, comfort, to use as a hard surface for writing, etc.
- Examples
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He lean'd not on his fathers but himself.
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The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
To hang outwards.
To press against.
- Examples
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Oppreſs'd with Anguiſh, panting, and o'reſpent, / His fainting Limbs against an Oak he leant.
Noun
An inclination away from the vertical.
Usage- of an object taller than its width and depth
- Examples
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The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy.
Adjective
Slim; not fleshy.
Usage- of a person or animal
- Examples
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They will now dedicate several hours at the gym every day to be leaner and stronger.
Having little fat.
Usage- of meat
- Examples
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lean steak cuts
The butcher and the porkman painted up only the leanest scrags of meat; the baker, the coarsest of meagre loaves.
Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a lean budget
a lean harvest
Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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A lean ore hardly worth mining.
Running on too lean a fuel-air mixture will cause, among other problems, your internal combustion engine to heat up too much.
Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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lean copy, matter, or type
Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing".
- Examples
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lean management
lean manufacturing
More examples (2)
Alcoa is now a lean and agile enterprise, after having split last year into two entities.
Kitting for in-plant handling is unlean. Kitting for transport, on the other hand, is lean; for example, shipping complete sets of parts to make a TV or motorcycle or motor home is lean.
Noun
Meat with no fat on it.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
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Jack Sprat would eat no fat, / His wife would eat no lean.
An organism that is lean in stature.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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The intermediates and leans are the predominant morphotypes found at the SE-NHR seamounts […]
Obese Zuckers, compared to leans, consumed more food under free-feeding conditions.
Verb
To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose.
More examples (1)
Even the Pilot's Operating Handbooks (POH) for our training airplanes add to our paranoia with their insistence that we not lean the mixture until we're above 5000 feet density altitude.
Noun
A recreational drug composed of codeine-promethazine cough syrup mixed with usually soda and associated with the hip-hop culture of the Southern United States.
Usage- US usage
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Eyes real tight 'cause I'm chokin' the creep; vision messed up 'cause I'm drinkin' the lean.
More examples (1)
"What's in the cup, let me see that / Girl, where the rest of that promethazine at?" / She said, "Cool, gotta run out to my Cadillac though / And I'll be like Fat Joe, and bring the lean back"
Adjective
lacking excess flesh
- Synonyms
- Examples
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you can't be too rich or too thin
lacking in mineral content or combustible material
- Antonyms
- Examples
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lean ore
lean fuel
containing little excess
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a lean budget
a skimpy allowance
not profitable or prosperous
- Examples
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a lean year
Noun
the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the tower had a pronounced tilt
the ship developed a list to starboard
More examples (1)
he walked with a heavy inclination to the right
Verb
to incline or bend from a vertical position
- Examples
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She leaned over the banister
cause to lean or incline
- Examples
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He leaned his rifle against the wall
have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She tends to be nervous before her lectures
These dresses run small
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He inclined to corpulence
rely on for support
- Broader terms
- Examples
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We can lean on this man
cause to lean to the side
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Erosion listed the old tree