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 glean”) (modern French glane (“act of gleaning”)), from glener, glainer (verb): see above.
Cognate with Medieval Latin glana, glena (“bundle of ears of grain”).
Meanings
(dialectal, qualifier:obsolete except UK) A collection of something made by gleaning.
But late at Night, vvith vveary Pinions come / The lab'ring Youth, and heavy laden home. / Plains, Meads, and Orchards all the day he plies, / The gleans of yellovv Thime diſtend his Thighs: […] 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 130, lines 264–267:
Even the greateſt, in reſpect of God, is but a gleaner. God, he is the Maſter of the Harveſt; all Gifts and Graces they are his, in an infinite meaſure; and every godly man, more or leſſe, gleanes from him. Abraham gleaned a great gleane of Faith; Moſes, of Meekneſſe; […] 1654, Thomas Fuller, “A Comment on Ruth. Motive.”, in Two Sermons: […], London: […] G. and H. Eversden, […], →OCLC, page 153:
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 glean”) (modern French glane (“act of gleaning”)), from glener, glainer (verb): see above.
Cognate with Medieval Latin glana, glena (“bundle of ears of grain”).
Meanings
(transitive) To collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest.
And thus ſhe vvent compell'd / By ſtrong neceſſity, vvith as ſerene, / And pleas'd a look as patience can put on, / To glean Palæmon's fields. 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn. Inscribed to the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq; Speaker of the House of Commons.”, in The Seasons, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 135–136, lines 216–219:
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. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 19:10, column 1:
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: […] c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 200, column 1:
He [the Calydonian boar] ruined vineyards lying in the sun, / After his harvesting the men must glean / What he had left; right glad they had not been / Among the tall stalks of the ripening wheat, / The fell destroyer's fatal tusks to meet. 1868, William Morris, “July: The Son of Crœsus”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, parts [I and II], London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 536:
Some harvest loss was gleaned by animals, although little information is available on the proportion of harvest loss gleaned and no hard data is available on the quantity. Academic researchers told us that as much as one-third of the corn lost in harvest was gleaned. 1977 September 16, Elmer Boyd Staats, Comptroller General, “Food Loss”, in Food Waste: An Opportunity to Improve Resource Use: Report to the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States (CED-77-118), Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office, →OCLC, page 13:
And Ruth the Moabiteſſe ſaide vnto Naomi, Let me now goe to the field, and gleane eares of corne after him, in whoſe ſight I ſhall finde grace. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ruth 2:2, column 2:
(figuratively, transitive) 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.
The shards, the shards of the sword, that thou gleanedst for my sake / In the night on the field of slaughter, in the tide when my father fell, / Hast thou kept them through sorrow and joyance? has thou warded them trusty and well? / Where hast thou laid them, my mother? 1877, William Morris, “Of the Forging of the Sword that is Called the Wrath of Sigurd”, in The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, book II (Regin), page 116:
In the Knovvledge of Bodies, vve muſt be content to glean vvhat vve can from particular Experiments, ſince vve cannot from a Diſcovery of their real Eſſences, graſp at a time vvhole Sheaves; and in Bundles, comprehend the Nature and Properties of vvhole Species together. 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of the Improvement of Our Knowledge”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, § 12, page 116:
It is entertaining to obſerve hovv the ſeveral little Springs and Rills, that break out of the Sides of the Mountain, are glean'd up, and convey'd thro' little cover'd Channels into the main Hollovv of the Aqueduct. 1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Towns within the Neighbourhood of Rome”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 375–376:
By Jay'd! ay, that's another Excellence of the Don's; he does not only glean up all the Bad VVords of other Authors, but makes nevv Bad VVords of his ovvn. 1729 (date written), Sciblerus Secundus [pseudonym; Henry Fielding], The Author’s Farce; and The Pleasures of the Town. […], London: […] J. Roberts, […], published 1730, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 40:
[Ferdinand] Magellan ſoone after ſailes yet more South, and paſſes that Fretum or ſtrait, vvith more reaſon called Magellan, a hundred others haue ſince that gleaned ſeueral additions of Titles and nevv names their diſtributed. 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Discourse and Proofe that Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd First Found Out that Continent Now Call’d America”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 224:
[August] Strindberg went to Stockholm, where for a few months he gleaned a living from newspaper work; but in the summer he went to a remote island in Bothnia Bay, where in his twenty-third year he wrote his great historical drama, Master Olof. 1912, Edith Oland, Warner Oland, “Biographical Note”, in Edith and Warner Oland, transl., Three Plays by August Strindberg: Countess Julie, The Outlaw, the Stronger (International Pocket Library; 36), Boston, Mass.: International Pocket Library, →OCLC, page xi:
Nor did he pass unmov'd the gentle scene, / For many a joy could he from Night's soft presence glean. 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza LXIX, page 95:
He [Amir Ali Hajizadeh] said Iran was "well aware of what priceless technological information" could be gleaned from the aircraft. 2011 December 8, “Iran Shows Film of Captured US Drone”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2024:
Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling fagots burn, / While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return / To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn. 1845 December, James Russell Lowell, “The Present Crisis”, in Poems, revised edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, published 1849, →OCLC, page 60:
All thy joys from earth thou gleanest / From things basest and obscenest, […] 1863, R. F. L., “Sequence for the Epiphany. From the Latin of Adam of S[aint] Victor.”, in The Union Review. A Magazine of Catholic Literature and Art, volume I, London: J. T. Hayes, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, page 504:
(figuratively, transitive) To take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.
(figuratively, transitive) 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.
Frigate birds glean a portion of their livelihood from the host of creatures which live at the surface of the ocean: flying-fishes, ctenophores, jelly-fishes, velela, janthina, and in fact anything that may attract their fancy. I even observed one bird aimlessly carrying a splinter of wood, uncertain of its utility, yet unwilling to release it. 1904 May–June, Walter K[enrick] Fisher, “The Home Life of a Buccaneer”, in Walter K. Fisher, editor, The Condor: A Magazine of Western Ornithology, volume VI, number 3, Palo Alto, Calif.: Cooper Ornithological Club, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60:
Seen traveling and foraging in noisy flocks of 5 to 30 or more birds, gleaning insects, eggs, and larvae from shrubs and trees. 2006, “Bushtits [Bushtit: Psaltriparus minimus L]”, in Jonathan Alderfer, editor, National Geographic Field Guide to Birds: Washington & Oregon, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISBN, page 173:
(figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To collect or gather (things) into one mass.
Yes, that goodneſſe / Of gleaning all the Lands vvealth into one, / Into your ovvne hands (Card'nall) by Extortion: […] 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 222, column 1:
Such ſlender arguments be gleaneth together agaynſt vs, ſeeking bye matters. But what ſhould he do? elſe ſhould he haue nought to furniſhe his counterblaſt withall. 1573, Iohn [i.e., John] Bridges, “The Fourth Diuision”, in The Supremacie of Christian Princes, ouer All Persons throughout Their Dominions, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman, for Humfrey Toye, →OCLC, page 98:
(figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To cut off (straggling soldiers separated from their units) during a conflict; to isolate.
And they turned and fled toward the wilderneſſe vnto the rocke of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the high wayes fiue thouſand men: and purſued hard after them vnto Gidom, and ſlew two thouſand men of them. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 20:45, column 1:
(intransitive) To collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest.
And ſhe [Ruth] ſaid, I pray you, let mee gleane and gather after the reapers amongſt the ſheaues: […] 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ruth 2:7, column 2:
In harvest tyme, whilest she myght goo and glyne; / And wher stoore was stroyed with the flodd / Then well awaye! for she undone was clene. 1536–1537 (date written), Thomas Wyatt, “[The Satires] Satire 2: Addressed to John Poyns”, in A[gnes] K[ate] Foxwell, editor, The Poems of Sir Thomas Wiat […], volume I, London: Hodder and Stoughton [for the] University of London Press, published 1913, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 141, lines 13–15:
Offer thy ſelfe to God then, as Primitas ſpicarium [the first grain of corn], vvhether thou gleaneſt in the vvorld, or bindeſt up by vvhole ſheaves; vvhether thine increaſe be by little and little, or thou be rich at once, by the devolution of a rich inheritance and patrimony unto thee. a. 1632 (date written), [John Donne], “Mans Timely Remembring of His Creator; or An Exposition Delivered in a Sermon upon Ecclesiastes 12. 1.”, in William Milbourne, editor, Sapientia Clamitans, Wisdome Crying Out to Sinners to Returne from Their Evill Wayes: […], London: […] I[ohn] Haviland, for R[obert] Milbourne […], published 1638, →OCLC, page 268:
Put nat your horſes in to the corne felde yet for my folkes haue nat gleaned there yet: […] 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio ccxlix, verso, column 2; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
Alſo it hath been ſaid, that by the common law and cuſtom of England the poor are allovved to enter and glean upon another's ground after the harveſt, vvithout being guilty of treſpaſs: vvhich humane proviſion ſeems borrovved from the moſaical lavv. 1768, William Blackstone, “Of Trespass”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book III (Of Private Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 212–213:
(intransitive) 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.
The species [Keen's myotis (Myotis keenii)] takes flying and non-flying prey, suggesting it gleans as well as hawking; it has been observed hunting over water. 2019, Marianne Taylor, “Yangochiroptera Accounts”, in Merlin D[evere] Tuttle, editor, Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species, London: Ivy Press, The Quarto Group, →ISBN, page 236:
On migration, it [the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla)] appears as a sunny flash of gold in roadside shrubs or swamp thickets, refueling on insects gleaned from leaves or caught in midair forays. 1980 November 30, John K[enneth] Terres, “Wilson’s warbler”, in The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published April 1982, →ISBN, page 994:
Possibly a variant of clean (“(UK, dialectal; noun) the afterbirth of a cow or sheep; (verb) of a cow or sheep: to bring forth the afterbirth”), possibly from clean (“to remove dirt from an object or place”), referring to an animal’s uterus being cleaned out by the delivery of the afterbirth.
Meanings
(obsolete) The afterbirth or placenta of an animal, especially a cow or sheep.
The gleane of a covv hauing nevvly calved, taken vvhiles it is moiſt and ſo applied, is good for any ulcers of the viſage. 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXVIII.] Remedies Observed out of the Bodies of Beasts, for the Accidents that Befall to the Visage, Necke, and Breast.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 327:
This Method of giving VVater to a nevv-calved Covv, vvherein Aſhes are thus put, is conſtantly practiſed by ſome to cleanſe her, and bring avvay her Glean. 1744, William Ellis, “Of Cows and Calves”, in The Modern Husbandman, or, The Practice of Farming, volume II (Containing, the Months of April, May, and June), London: […] T[homas] Osborne, […], and M[ary] Cooper […], →OCLC, page 150:
[O]ur midvvives doe vvarrant, that if a vvoman drinke goats urine, it vvill ſtrip all fluxes of bloud be they never ſo immoderat, ſo that ſhe apply alſo outvvardly the dung of the ſaid beaſt. The pellicle or gleane vvherein a kid vvas enfolded vvithin the dams vvombe, kept untill it bee drie and drunke in vvine, putteth foorth the after-birth in vvomen. 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXVIII.] Receits Appropriat to the Maladies of Women, and the Diseases of Suckling Babes: Also Remedies for Them that are Unable to Perfourme the Act of Generation.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 341:
Possibly a variant of clean (“(UK, dialectal; noun) the afterbirth of a cow or sheep; (verb) of a cow or sheep: to bring forth the afterbirth”), possibly from clean (“to remove dirt from an object or place”), referring to an animal’s uterus being cleaned out by the delivery of the afterbirth.
Meanings
(intransitive, obsolete) Of an animal, especially a cow or sheep: to deliver its afterbirth or placenta.
To make a Covv glean vvell, and keep her in Health aftervvards.— […] And as it is a Cuſtom vvith ſome to give all their Covvs a cleanſing Drink after Calving, I recommend this to be a good one for that Purpoſe.— […] A fourth is, to boil a Quart of ground Malt in tvvo Quarts of Ale, and give all vvarm. A certain Perſon gave this laſt to a Covv, vvhich, on the third Day after Calving, had not gleaned; but in five Days after it came avvay vvhole. 1744, William Ellis, “Of Bulls, Cows, and Calves”, in The Modern Husbandman, or, The Practice of Farming, volume II (Containing, the Months of April, May, and June), London: […] T[homas] Osborne, […], and M[ary] Cooper […], →OCLC, page 150: