leans

Verb (1)

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned or (UK) leant)

1. (intransitive) To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
   • a leaning column
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.
3. (Followed by against, on, or upon) To rest or rely, for support, comfort, to use as a hard surface for writing, etc.
   • He lean'd not on his fathers but himself.1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 54
4. To hang outwards.
5. To press against.
   • Oppreſs'd with Anguiſh, panting, and o'reſpent, / His fainting Limbs against an Oak he leant.1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 533, lines...

Verb (2)

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned)

1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
   • He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose.1938 July, Harold Blaine Miller, Dupont Miller, “Weather Hop”, in Boys' Life, Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 25

   Synonyms:

   derich, disenrich

   Antonyms:

   enrich

See all 17 meanings of lean