Word of the Day

: June 6, 2021

glean

verb GLEEN

What It Means

1 : to gather grain or other produce left by reapers

2 : to gather information or material bit by bit

3 a : to pick up after a reaper

b : to strip of the leavings of reapers

4 a : to gather (something, such as information) bit by bit

b : to pick over in search of relevant material

5 : find out

glean in Context

"Every year since Arecibo's completion, in 1963, hundreds of researchers from around the world had taken turns pointing the radio telescope toward the sky to glean the secrets of the universe." — Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker, 29 Mar 2021

"When we arrived at that hut at mid-afternoon, we saw no signs of life about it. The field near by had been denuded of its crop some time before, and had a skinned look, so exhaustively had it been harvested and gleaned." — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889

Did You Know?

Glean comes from Middle English glenen, which traces to Anglo-French glener, meaning "to glean." The French borrowed their word from Late Latin glennare, which also means "to glean" and is itself of Celtic origin. Both the grain-gathering sense and the collecting-bit-by-bit senses of English's glean date back at least to the 14th century. Over the years, and especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, glean has also come to be used frequently with the meaning "to find out, learn, ascertain." This sense has been criticized by folks who think glean should always imply the drudgery involved in the literal grain-gathering sense, but it is well established and perfectly valid.