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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GLEAN

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pronounce GLEAN:

GLEEN
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connect this word to others:

Did you see that episode of Seinfeld where George pulled the chocolate éclair out of the trash and took a bite? In his defense, it only had one bite taken out of it already, and it was sitting on top of some reasonably clean-look garbage. Is that gross? Or is George just an excellent gleaner, coming along to make good use of discarded food? Maybe it's both?

As we explore that powerful little word glean, I suggest storing it in your mind next to thresh, chaff, grist, and winnow.

Could you explain why? What basic metaphor do these five words have in common?

definition:

"Glean" traces back through French to the Latin glennare, "to make a collection."

Since the 1300s in English, we've used "glean" to mean "to make a second pass through a field of crops: to go back through it to pick up all the leftover bits that the first round of harvesters didn't already pick up."

Here's some gleaners gleaning wheat in Jean-François Millet's 1857 painting The Gleaners: 

(Source)

The meaning of "glean" soon expanded to other crops beyond corn and wheat, and then to other, abstract things, like pieces of advice or information.

Today, to glean things is to gather them or pick them up bit by bit, as if you're gathering leftover crops.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, usually the transitive kind: "It's fun to glean haircare tips from YouTube;" "They gleaned some life lessons from the experience."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "gleaned" and "gleaning."

People who glean are "gleaners."

And you might describe things as "gleaned" or "gleanable." Or, why not: "ungleaned" or "ungleanable."

how to use it:

Pick the common word "glean" when you want to talk about people searching for, finding, and holding onto valuable tidbits of things, especially things that were originally left behind by others.

Things we glean are usually bits of information, like tips, knowledge, advice, and lessons. When people say things like "What do you hope to glean from this interview?" and "I didn't glean much from that book," it's understood that they're talking about gleaning some kind of valuable information.

examples:

"That time of year, I could even feed myself by sneaking into the orchards and gleaning whatever fruits the pickers missed."
  — Daniel Nayeri, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, 2023

"By looking at how dietary patterns changed over time, the researchers gleaned new clues about how dinosaurs took over Earth."
  — Kermit Pattison, Science, 27 November 2024

"What can be gleaned about Hollywood's current state from the movies and moments that have factored into this year's [Oscar] race?"
  — Kyle Buchanon, New York Times, 24 February 2024

has this page helped you understand "glean"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "glean" without saying "gather up" or "garner."

try it out:

When you were a kid, where did you glean most of your information about the real world? Was it school, books, TV, the internet, or conversations or experiences with your family? Or some other source?

Also, if you can remember, talk about something you gleaned as a kid about the real world that turned out to be really useful—or totally useless or wrong.




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "It's That Thing..."

We'll play with some highly slangy, reasonably wholesome terms, courtesy of Urban Dictionary.

I'll give you three terms, and you attempt to define them. Scroll down to see the correct definitions, and give yourself a point for each term that you defined either correctly or believably.

Try these today:

1. Deja moo

2. Feeling magenta

3. Icescapee

review this word:

1. The opposite of GLEAN could be

A. EBB or DWINDLE.
B. REJECT or OVERLOOK.
C. UPDATE or REDESIGN.

2. I like to read slowly. I find I glean more enjoyment _____ the books that way, especially fiction.

A. in
B. from
C. along




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. B

From the game:

Remember, even if you're wrong, give yourself a point for coming up with a believable definition! Here are the definitions that Urban Dictionary lists.

1. Deja moo: "The feeling that you have heard this bull before."

2. Feeling magenta: "A term coined by Blanche Devereaux from the sitcom The Golden Girls. She describes it as so many negative emotions trampling each other that it's hard to know what exactly you're feeling. You're not entirely sad, so not blue. You're not entirely jealous, so not green... Blanche used magenta to describe a feeling she hates because she dislikes the color magenta."

3. Icescapee: "The ice cube that ends up on the floor when you break a new tray of ice."


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
On vocabulary...
      36 ways to study words.
      Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
      How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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      How to motivate our kids to write.
      How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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