lean
/ˈliːn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
Intransitive verb
noun
An inclination away from the vertical.
Example Sentences
- "a leaning column"
- "She leaned out of the window."
- "In Pisa, where [Galileo] was born, I climbed the worn steps of the tower that has been leaning southward almost from the day it was built in the 13th century."
- "I’m leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election."
- "The Hispanic vote leans Democratic."
- "But you ſay they do not accept of them, but delight rather to lean to their old Cuſtoms and Brehon Laws, though they be more unjuſt and alſo more inconvenient for the common People, as by your late Relation of them I have gathered."
Etymology
From Middle English lenen (“to lean”), from Old English hleonian, hlinian (“to lean, recline, lie down, rest”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlinēn, from Proto-Germanic *hlināną (“to lean, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-. Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Middle Dutch leunen (“to lean”), German lehnen (“to lean”); via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- Archaic
- Uncountable
- Countable
- American usage
- Slang