gleaner

[ glee-ner ]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gleaner¹

glean ( def ) + -er ¹( def )

Example Sentences

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

From Science Daily

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

Watch how volunteer harvesters, otherwise known as gleaners, are helping to fight food waste straight from the source - the farms themselves.

From BBC

She cited a statue of nude washerwoman in Bologna dating to 2001, as well as a statue of a scantily clad gleaner unveiled last year.

From New York Times

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

From BBC

Related Words

• grower
• laborer
• peasant
• producer
• rancher