See Also: lean-to(dictionary)
lean-to(dictionary)
lean(4)(dictionary)
lean(3)(dictionary)
lean(2)(dictionary)
lean(1)(dictionary)
Lean(medicine)
Lean Operation(money)
Lean, Sir David(encyclopedia)
Lean, Sir David(dictionary)

lean(1) (iou)



lean adjective. [li:n]

1. Thin, not plump or fat; not fleshed out. OE.
R. Graves The lean captain of a trading-vessel envies the big-paunched wine-shop proprietor.
b. Of a ship: built on clean tapering lines. M18.
2. fig. Meagre, poor in quality; (of diet) not nourishing; (of employment) unremunerative. ME.
E. Blunden The day's meals..were still substantial despite the lean supplies. Times He went through a lean patch..but has since come back strongly.
3. techn. Of various materials, as soil, mortar, fuel, etc.: low in essential or valuable elements or qualities. ME.
4. Scantily provided. Formerly also, short of. ME.
5. Of meat: containing little or no fat. LME.
M. Pyke Meat is made of..the fat, and the lean or protein part.
6. Typography. Of (a stroke in) a letter: thin, slender. Now rare. L17.
7. Of industry, a company, etc.: economical, efficient. L20.
Observer Industry was now leaner and fitter and in a much better position to compete.
Special collocations & comb.: lean-burn adjective designating (the technology associated with) an internal-combustion engine designed to run on a lean mixture and so reduce pollution. lean mixture vaporized fuel containing a high proportion of air. lean times, lean years, etc., times, years, etc., of scarcity.
leanish adjective M17.
leanly adverb L16.
leanness [-n-n-] noun OE.