lean

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
2. (copulative) To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.
3. To rest or rely, for support, comfort, to use as a hard surface for writing, etc.
4. To hang outwards.
5. To press against.

Noun

An inclination away from the vertical.

Adj

1. Slim; not fleshy.
2. Having little fat.
3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.
5. (archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
6. Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing".

Noun

1. (uncountable) Meat with no fat on it.
2. (countable) An organism that is lean in stature.

Noun

A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, especially popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.

Opposite of

rich, enrich

Synonyms

thin

incline

skinny

emaciated

gaunt

tilt

slant

slender

slim

meager

bend

slope

meagre

support

stoop

list

skimpy

sustain

tip

weak

scrawny

rest

bend down

recline

spare

lank

poor

prop

tend

lean on

lean against

bony

scanty

sparse

leaning

inclination

bow

🙇

bend over

withered

run

angle

rawboned

be given

cant

duck

🦆

dry out

stand

lanky

dip

heel

Translations

maigre

magro

mager

s’appuyer

lehnen

pencher

mince

mager

appuyer

delgado

magre

steunen

flaco

neigen

leunen

Pronounced as (IPA)

/liːn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: lenen

Inherited from Old English: hleonian

Cognate with Middle Dutch: leunen

Cognate with German: lehnen

Inherited from Middle English: lene

Inherited from Old English: hlǣne

Cognate with Low German: leen

Cognate with Old English: hlinian

Cognate with German: leugnen

In summary

From Middle English lenen (“to lean”), from Old English hleonian, hlinian (“to lean, recline, lie down, rest”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlinēn, from Proto-Germanic *hlināną (“to lean, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.
Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Middle Dutch leunen (“to lean”), German lehnen (“to lean”); via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.