glean

[ gleen ]

verb (used with object)

1. to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.
2. to gather small amounts of (grain or the like) left behind after a harvest, nowadays often for charitable use.
3. to clear (a field, orchard, etc.) of leftover produce in this way:

   Millet’s painting The Gleaners depicts three peasant women stooping low as they glean a field of wheat.

4. to learn, discover, or find out, usually little by little or slowly.

   Synonyms: infer, extract, derive, deduce, reap, gather

verb (used without object)

1. to collect or gather anything little by little or slowly.
2. to gather what is left by reapers.

glean

/ ɡliːn /

verb

1. to gather (something) slowly and carefully in small pieces

   to glean information from the newspapers

2. to gather (the useful remnants of a crop) from the field after harvesting

Derived Forms

• ˈgleaner, noun
• ˈgleanable, adjective

Other Words From

• glean·a·ble adjective
• glean·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of glean¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English glenen, from Old French glener, from Late Latin glennāre, ultimately from Celtic

Word History and Origins

Origin of glean¹

C14: from Old French glener, from Late Latin glennāre, probably of Celtic origin

Example Sentences

Since then, he and other micrometeorite specialists — a small enough community that he “knows the children of most of them” — have gleaned much more information from the dust.

From Quanta Magazine

The data gleaned from Palantir is the same information that all law enforcement agencies have access to through legal and authorized computer systems.

From Voice of San Diego

That includes tactics for conducting competitive analysis within the platforms and well as gleaning higher-level, operational insights from the data.

From Search Engine Land

They swapped tidbits of information that they had overheard or seen on Twitter, trying to glean what exactly had happened.

From Washington Post

If the Omnipoint Systems does what it professes to do — gleaning political affiliation audience data — that could be extremely valuable to a marketer, Kunz said.

From Digiday

By presenting the data in a unified fashion, it makes it easier to glean insights.

From The Daily Beast

And you might be able to glean some advance knowledge of new product launches or marketing campaigns.

From The Daily Beast

But there are still many valuable insights that modern politicians can glean from his example.

From The Daily Beast

“They wanted to glean good ideas and figured their opponent the CIA was doing it, so they had to do it too,” Grady said.

From The Daily Beast

I also reread writers I admire, and try to glean a phrase or thought that will get me going.

From The Daily Beast

This is all I have been able to glean with regard to Peter Ilichs musical development at this period of his life.

From Project Gutenberg

From the little we can glean of them, the ancient inhabitants of the village must have been a grim old race.

From Project Gutenberg

Also, was he fencing for such additional information as he might glean, and for this purpose had he come.

From Project Gutenberg

They also glean part of their living from the underside of the foliage much as do the Vireos.

From Project Gutenberg

That Mrs. Matilda Knowles, our beau ideal missionary, possessed a thankful heart, we glean from her diary.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cull
• deduce
• extract
• garner
• gather
• learn
• reap
• sift