Definition of "lean" in English

verb

1. (intransitive) To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.

   • a leaning column
   • She leaned out of the window.

2. (copulative) To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.

   • I’m leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election.
   • The Hispanic vote leans Democratic.

3. (Followed by against, on, or upon) To rest or rely, for support, comfort, to use as a hard surface for writing, etc.

4. To hang outwards.

5. To press against.

noun

1. (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.

   • The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy.

adjective

1. (of a person or animal) Slim; not fleshy.

2. (of meat) Having little fat.

   • lean steak cuts

3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.

   • a lean budget
   • a lean harvest

4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.

   • A lean ore hardly worth mining.
   • Running on too lean a fuel-air mixture will cause, among other problems, your internal combustion engine to heat up too much.

5. (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.

   • lean copy, matter, or type

6. (business) Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing".

   • lean management
   • lean manufacturing
   • Alcoa is now a lean and agile enterprise, after having split last year into two entities.

noun

1. (uncountable) Meat with no fat on it.

2. (countable, biology) An organism that is lean in stature.

   • The intermediates and leans are the predominant morphotypes found at the SE-NHR seamounts […]

verb

1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.

noun