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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
Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2024
The first votes of the 2024 presidential election are rolling in, raising questions about what can be gleaned from the data in forecasting the possible outcome of the race.
—Jared Gans, The Hill, 29 Oct. 2024
Pressly offers an antidote to this fearful existence, inviting readers to slip into oblivion: to recognize the freedom of being temporarily forgotten, and resist the forces that reduce them to what can be gleaned on the internet.
—John Kaag, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2024
But information gleaned from talking to players and coaches, and from watching practices, is quite important for a TV analyst.
—Sean Gregory, TIME, 17 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for glean 
Dictionary Entries Near glean
Cite this Entry
“Glean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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glean
verb
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