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The Grainy History of Glean
While it is certainly true that one must reap what one sows (that is, harvest the crops that one plants), what should be done about the grain and other produce left over that the reapers missed? Well, friends, that must be gleaned—waste not, want not, after all. It’s a finicky business, too, picking through stalks and under leaves and whatnot. When it was first used in English in the 14th century, glean carried both the sense of “to gather grain or other produce left by reapers” and the more figurative meaning of “to gather information or material bit by bit,” reflecting the slow, gradual, painstaking work of scouring the fields. Over the years, and especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, glean has also come to be used frequently with the meaning “to find out, learn, ascertain.” This sense has been criticized by folks who think glean should always imply the drudgery involved in the literal grain-gathering sense, but it is well established and perfectly valid.
Examples of glean in a Sentence
Bennet Goldstein, jsonline.com, 4 July 2025
Experts couldn’t immediately glean much from the body, but radiocarbon dating revealed the individual lived between 2855 and 2570 BCE.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 2 July 2025
But certainly the networking and other experiences she’s gleaned are invaluable and help pave the way for more such events.
—Denise Crosby, Chicago Tribune, 2 July 2025
There’s fun history to be gleaned here about the old Selby smelting works, once the largest refining company in the West for gold, silver and lead.
—John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for glean
Cite this Entry
“Glean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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glean
verb
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