glean

verb

1. (transitive)To collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest.

   “So holy, and ſo perfect is my loue, / And I in ſuch a pouerty of grace, / That I ſhall thinke it a moſt plenteous crop / To gleane the broken eares after the man / That the maine harueſt reapes: […]”

   “And thou ſhalt not gleane thy vineyard, neither ſhalt thou gather euery grape of thy vineyard; thou ſhalt leaue them for the poore and ſtranger: I am the Lord your God.”

   “And Ruth the Moabiteſſe ſaide vnto Naomi, Let me now goe to the field, and gleane eares of corne after him, in whoſe ſight I ſhall finde grace.”

   “And thus ſhe vvent compell'd / By ſtrong neceſſity, vvith as ſerene, / And pleas'd a look as patience can put on, / To glean Palæmon's fields.”

   “He [the Calydonian boar] ruined vineyards lying in the sun, / After his harvesting the men must glean / What he had left; right glad they had not been / Among the tall stalks of the ripening wheat, / The fell destroyer's fatal tusks to meet.”

2. (figuratively, transitive)To gather (something, now chiefly something intangible such as experience or information) in small amounts over a period of time, often with some difficulty; to scrape together.

   “[Ferdinand] Magellan ſoone after ſailes yet more South, and paſſes that Fretum or ſtrait, vvith more reaſon called Magellan, a hundred others haue ſince that gleaned ſeueral additions of Titles and nevv names their diſtributed.”

   “In the Knovvledge of Bodies, vve muſt be content to glean vvhat vve can from particular Experiments, ſince vve cannot from a Diſcovery of their real Eſſences, graſp at a time vvhole Sheaves; and in Bundles, comprehend the Nature and Properties of vvhole Species together.”

   “It is entertaining to obſerve hovv the ſeveral little Springs and Rills, that break out of the Sides of the Mountain, are glean'd up, and convey'd thro' little cover'd Channels into the main Hollovv of the Aqueduct.”

   “By Jay'd! ay, that's another Excellence of the Don's; he does not only glean up all the Bad VVords of other Authors, but makes nevv Bad VVords of his ovvn.”

   “Nor did he pass unmov'd the gentle scene, / For many a joy could he from Night's soft presence glean.”

3. (figuratively, transitive)To take away (someone's) possessions; to strip (someone) bare.
4. (figuratively, transitive)Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking (prey, mainly arthropods such as insects) from various places.

   “Frigate birds glean a portion of their livelihood from the host of creatures which live at the surface of the ocean: flying-fishes, ctenophores, jelly-fishes, velela, janthina, and in fact anything that may attract their fancy. I even observed one bird aimlessly carrying a splinter of wood, uncertain of its utility, yet unwilling to release it.”

   “Seen traveling and foraging in noisy flocks of 5 to 30 or more birds, gleaning insects, eggs, and larvae from shrubs and trees.”

5. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To collect or gather (things) into one mass.

   “Such ſlender arguments be gleaneth together agaynſt vs, ſeeking bye matters. But what ſhould he do? elſe ſhould he haue nought to furniſhe his counterblaſt withall.”

   “Yes, that goodneſſe / Of gleaning all the Lands vvealth into one, / Into your ovvne hands (Card'nall) by Extortion: […]”

6. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To cut off (straggling soldiers separated from their units) during a conflict; to isolate.

   “And they turned and fled toward the wilderneſſe vnto the rocke of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the high wayes fiue thouſand men: and purſued hard after them vnto Gidom, and ſlew two thouſand men of them.”

7. (intransitive)To collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest.

   “Put nat your horſes in to the corne felde yet for my folkes haue nat gleaned there yet: […]”

   “In harvest tyme, whilest she myght goo and glyne; / And wher stoore was stroyed with the flodd / Then well awaye! for she undone was clene.”

   “And ſhe [Ruth] ſaid, I pray you, let mee gleane and gather after the reapers amongſt the ſheaues: […]”

   “Offer thy ſelfe to God then, as Primitas ſpicarium [the first grain of corn], vvhether thou gleaneſt in the vvorld, or bindeſt up by vvhole ſheaves; vvhether thine increaſe be by little and little, or thou be rich at once, by the devolution of a rich inheritance and patrimony unto thee.”

   “Alſo it hath been ſaid, that by the common law and cuſtom of England the poor are allovved to enter and glean upon another's ground after the harveſt, vvithout being guilty of treſpaſs: vvhich humane proviſion ſeems borrovved from the moſaical lavv.”

8. (intransitive)Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking prey, mainly arthropods such as insects, from various places.

   “On migration, it [the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla)] appears as a sunny flash of gold in roadside shrubs or swamp thickets, refueling on insects gleaned from leaves or caught in midair forays.”

   “The species [Keen's myotis (Myotis keenii)] takes flying and non-flying prey, suggesting it gleans as well as hawking; it has been observed hunting over water.”

9. (intransitive, obsolete)Of an animal, especially a cow or sheep: to deliver its afterbirth or placenta.

   “To make a Covv glean vvell, and keep her in Health aftervvards.— […] And as it is a Cuſtom vvith ſome to give all their Covvs a cleanſing Drink after Calving, I recommend this to be a good one for that Purpoſe.— […] A fourth is, to boil a Quart of ground Malt in tvvo Quarts of Ale, and give all vvarm. A certain Perſon gave this laſt to a Covv, vvhich, on the third Day after Calving, had not gleaned; but in five Days after it came avvay vvhole.”

noun

1. (dialectal)A collection of something made by gleaning.

   “Even the greateſt, in reſpect of God, is but a gleaner. God, he is the Maſter of the Harveſt; all Gifts and Graces they are his, in an infinite meaſure; and every godly man, more or leſſe, gleanes from him. Abraham gleaned a great gleane of Faith; Moſes, of Meekneſſe; […]”

   “But late at Night, vvith vveary Pinions come / The lab'ring Youth, and heavy laden home. / Plains, Meads, and Orchards all the day he plies, / The gleans of yellovv Thime diſtend his Thighs: […]”

2. (obsolete)The afterbirth or placenta of an animal, especially a cow or sheep.

   “The gleane of a covv hauing nevvly calved, taken vvhiles it is moiſt and ſo applied, is good for any ulcers of the viſage.”

   “[O]ur midvvives doe vvarrant, that if a vvoman drinke goats urine, it vvill ſtrip all fluxes of bloud be they never ſo immoderat, ſo that ſhe apply alſo outvvardly the dung of the ſaid beaſt. The pellicle or gleane vvherein a kid vvas enfolded vvithin the dams vvombe, kept untill it bee drie and drunke in vvine, putteth foorth the after-birth in vvomen.”

   “This Method of giving VVater to a nevv-calved Covv, vvherein Aſhes are thus put, is conſtantly practiſed by ſome to cleanſe her, and bring avvay her Glean.”