lean

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“
A later form of many houses was two stories or two stories and a half in front, with a peaked roof that sloped down nearly to the ground in the back over an ell covering the kitchen, added in the shape known as a lean-to, or, as it was called by country folk, the linter.

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Definitions (54)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. intransitive verb To bend or slant away from the vertical.
  2. intransitive verb To incline the weight of the body so as to be supported: leaning against the railing. See Synonyms at slant.
  3. intransitive verb To rely for assistance or support: Lean on me for help.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

tall ·  gaunt ·  slender ·  muscular ·  wiry ·  plump ·  bearded ·  stout ·  naked ·  hairy ·  hungry ·  sleek

Used in the same contextWord Family

lean:   leaned ·  leaning ·  leans
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English lenen, from Old English hleonian; see klei- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English lene, from Old English hlǣne.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English lenen, leonen, linen (preterit lenede, past participle lened), from (a) Anglo-Saxon hlinian, hleonian = Old Saxon hlinōn = OFries. lena = Dutch leunen = Old High German hlinēn, linēn, Middle High German linen, lenen, German lehnen, intransitive, lean; (b) Anglo-Saxon hlǣnan = Danish læne = Swedish läna, transitive, cause to lean (in Swedish Danish used only reflexively); = L. *clinare in inclinare, lean upon, incline, declinare, lean or bend away, decline, reclinare, lean back, recline, = Greek κλίνειν, bend, cause to lean; prob. Sanskrit √ çri. The L. and Greek words of this root, represented in English, are numerous: as, from L., cline, decline, incline, recline, acclivity, declivous, declivity, proclivous, proclivity, etc.; from Greek, clinic, clime, climax, climacteric, etc.
  2. = Old Dutch leyne, lene = Old High German hlinā, linā, lenā, Middle High German line, lin, lene, German lehne, a leaning, support; from the verb.
  3. from Middle English lene, from Anglo-Saxon hlǣne (= Low German leen), lean, meager. Referred by Skeat to hlǣnan, lean, bend (see lean, v.), as if orig. ‘bending, stooping’; but this is doubtful.
  4. from Middle English lenen; from lean, a.
 

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/lin/
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