“gleaning” is a form of
glean
UK /ɡliːn/ · US /ɡlin/ verb, noun
Forms gleans gleaning gleaned gleanest gleanedst gleaneth
- verb To collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest.
- verb 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.
- verb To take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.
- verb (zoology) 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.
- verb (obsolete) To collect or gather (things) into one mass.
- verb (obsolete, military) To cut off (straggling soldiers separated from their units) during a conflict; to isolate.
- verb To collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest.
- verb (zoology) 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.
- noun (obsolete except UK, dialectal) A collection of something made by gleaning.
- noun (obsolete) The afterbirth or placenta of an animal, especially a cow or sheep.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) Of an animal, especially a cow or sheep: to deliver its afterbirth or placenta.
Synonyms
Etymology
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”).
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.
Webster’s 1913
- verb 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.
- verb To gather from (a field or vineyard) what is left.
- verb To gather stalks or ears of grain left by reapers.
- verb To pick up or gather anything by degrees.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “glean”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details