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gleaner

American  
[glee-ner] / ˈgli nər /

noun

  1. a person who gathers small amounts of grain or other produce left behind by regular harvesters, nowadays often for charitable use.

    I volunteered as a gleaner for an agency that collects crop surplus to feed those in need.

  2. a person who gathers anything slowly or laboriously.

    As an artist, I am a gleaner of shards and shiny bits to incorporate in my work.


Etymology

Origin of gleaner

glean ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It just cannot produce louder calls than it does, because as a descendant of a gleaner it is probably morphologically limited.

From Science Daily • Oct. 27, 2023

And of course Varda herself is the film’s chief gleaner: There is, as she says, “no law governing this type of gleaning — of images, impressions, emotions.”

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023

The poem is written from the point of view of a female gleaner - someone who collected grain left in fields by harvesters.

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2021

She has always seen herself as something of a gleaner.

From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2018

Wilson, in his humble way, was a gleaner in the field so richly harvested by Sir Walter Scott.

From Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Holmes, Daniel Turner