lean

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To bend or slant away from the vertical.
2. v. To incline the weight of the body so as to be supported: leaning against the railing. See Synonyms at slant.
3. v. To rely for assistance or support: Lean on me for help.
4. v. To have a tendency or preference: a government that leans toward fascism.
5. v. Informal To exert pressure: The boss is leaning on us to meet the deadline.
6. v. To set or place so as to be resting or supported.
7. v. To cause to incline.
8. n. A tilt or an inclination away from the vertical.
9. adj. Not fleshy or fat; thin.
10. adj. Containing little or no fat.
11. adj. Not productive or prosperous; meager: lean years.
12. adj. Containing little excess or waste; spare: a lean budget.
13. adj. Thrifty in management; economical: "Company leaders know their industries must be lean to survive” ( Christian Science Monitor).
14. adj. Metallurgy Low in mineral contents: lean ore.
15. adj. Chemistry Metallurgy Lacking in combustible material: lean fuel.
16. n. Meat with little or no fat.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To incline or deviate from a vertical position or line; deviate from an erect position; take or have an inclining posture or direction; bend or stoop out of line: as, the column leans to the north; the leaning tower of Pisa; to lean against a wall or over a balustrade.
2. To deviate from a straight or straightforward line; turn: as, the road leans to the right.
3. To depend, as for support or comfort: usually with on or upon: as, to lean on one's arm; to lean on the help of a friend.
4. To bow or bend in submission; yield.
5. To incline, as in feeling or opinion; tend, as in conduct: as, he leans toward fatalism.
6. To incline for support or rest.
7. n. Deviation from a vertical position; inclination.
8. Scant of flesh; not fat or plump; spare; thin; lank: as, a lean body.
9. Free from fat; consisting only or chiefly of solid flesh or muscle: as, lean meat; the lean part of a steak.
10. Lacking in substance or in that which gives value; poor or scanty in essential qualities or contents; bare; barren; meager: as, a lean discourse; a lean purse; lean soil; lean trees.
11. Exhibiting or producing leanness.
12. Among printers, unprofitable; consuming extra time or labor. Lean work is work which takes more time than other work paid for at the same rate. Lean type is type which is so thin as to require an unusual number of letters to fill a certain space. The standard widths (as declared by the typographical unions of the United States) of the full alphabet of 26 lower-case letters are the spaces occupied by 12 ems or squares of its own body for each size from pica to bourgeois; 13 ems for brevier and minion, 14 for nonpareil, 15 for agate, 16 for pearl, and 17 for diamond. Types whose alphabets do not reach these measures are lean or lean-faced.
13. Synonyms Spare, lank, gaunt, skinny, poor, emaciated.
14. n. That part of flesh which consists of muscle without fat.
15. n. Any flesh that adheres to the blubber of a whale: same as fat-lean.
16. n. Among printers, unprofitable work.
17. To become lean.
18. To make lean: as, the climate leans one very soon.
19. In whaling, to remove the Lean or flesh from (blubber) with the leaning-knife.
20. See lain.

Wiktionary

1. adj. of a person slim; not fleshy.
2. adj. of meat having little fat.
3. adj. Having little extra or little to spare.
4. adj. Of a fuel-air mixture, having more air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; more air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
5. v. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
6. v. To hang outwards.
7. v. To press against.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. obsolete To conceal.
2. v. To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating
3. v. To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; -- with to, toward, etc.
4. v. To rest or rely, for support, comfort, and the like; -- with on, upon, or against.
5. v. To cause to lean; to incline; to support or rest.
6. adj. Wanting flesh; destitute of or deficient in fat; slim; not plump; slender; meager; thin; lank.
7. adj. Wanting fullness, richness, sufficiency, or productiveness; deficient in quality or contents; slender; scant; barren; bare; mean; -- used literally and figuratively
8. adj. (Typog.) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; -- opposed to fat.
9. n. That part of flesh which consists principally of muscle without the fat.
10. n. (Typog.) Unremunerative copy or work.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. to incline or bend from a vertical position
2. adj. containing little excess
3. v. rely on for support
4. n. the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical
5. v. cause to lean or incline
6. v. cause to lean to the side
7. adj. not profitable or prosperous
8. adj. lacking excess flesh
9. adj. lacking in mineral content or combustible material
10. v. have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined