• enPR: lēn, IPA: /liːn/

lean (leans, present participle leaning; past and past participle leaned)

1. To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.

   a leaning column

   She leaned out of the window.

2. To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; with to, toward, etc.

   I’m leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election.

3. Followed by against, on, or upon': to rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.
   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 879237670 ↗, page 54 ↗:

     He lean'd not on his fathers but himself.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071 ↗, pages 374–375 ↗:

     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.

4. To hang#Verb|hang outwards.
5. To press#Verb|press against.
   • 1697, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432 ↗, lines 1187–1188, page 533 ↗:

     Oppreſs'd with Anguiſh, panting, and o'reſpent, / His fainting Limbs against an Oak he leant.

• climate
• cline

• French: pencher
• Italian: pendere
• Spanish: inclinar

• French: se pencher
• German: lehnen
• Italian: sporgersi
• Portuguese: reclinar-se
• Russian: наклоня́ться
• Spanish: declinarse

• Spanish: apoyarse

• French: se presser
• German: lehnen, anlehnen
• Italian: reclinare, appoggiare, adagiarsi, adagiare
• Portuguese: apoiar-se
• Russian: опира́ться
• Spanish: apoyarse, arrimar, reclinar

lean (plural leans)

1. (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.

   The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy.

• (inclination away from vertical) tilt

lean (comparative leaner, superlative leanest)

1. (of a person or animal) Slim; not fleshy.

   Synonyms: lithe, svelte, willowy, Thesaurus:slender

2. (of meat) Having little fat.

   lean steak cuts

3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.

   Synonyms: insufficient, scarce, sparse, Thesaurus:inadequate

   a lean budget

   a lean harvest

4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.

   Synonyms: deficient, dilute, poor

   Antonyms: rich

   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.

5. (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.

   lean copy, matter, or type

6. (business) Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing"

   lean management

   lean manufacturing

   Alcoa is now a lean and agile enterprise, after having split last year into two entities.

• French: mince
• German: mager, dürr, schlank
• Italian: magro, asciutto, slanciato, sodo
• Portuguese: esbelto
• Russian: худо́й
• Spanish: delgado, esbelto

• French: maigre
• German: mager
• Italian: magro
• Portuguese: magro
• Russian: по́стный
• Spanish: magro

• French: serré
• German: knapp
• Italian: magro, scarso
• Russian: бе́дный
• Spanish: estrecho, ajustado

• French: pauvre
• German: mager
• Italian: magra, ricca
• Russian: обеднённый
• Spanish: delgado, sobreoxigenado

lean

1. (uncountable) Meat with no fat on it.
   • 1639 or earlier, Anon, Jack Sprat

     Jack Sprat would eat no fat, / His wife would eat no lean.

2. (countable, biology) An organism that is lean in stature.
   • 1986, Southwest Fisheries Center (U.S.), Collected Reprints (issue 1)

     The intermediates and leans are the predominant morphotypes found at the SE-NHR seamounts […]

   • 2012, Obesity: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional (page 56)

     Obese Zuckers, compared to leans, consumed more food under free-feeding conditions.

lean (leans, present participle leaning; past and past participle leaned)

1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.

lean (leans, present participle leaning; past and past participle leaned)

1. To conceal.

lean (uncountable)

1. (slang, US) A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.

   Synonyms: sizzurp, syrup, purple drank

1. Surname