King James Bible Dictionary

LEAN, verb intransitive [Gr., Latin clino.]

1. To deviate or move from a straight or perpendicular line; or to be in a position thus deviating. We say, a column leans to the north or to the east; it leans to the right or left.

2. To incline or propend; to tend toward.

They delight rather to lean to their old customs -

3. To bend or incline so as to rest on something; as, to lean against a wall or a pillar; to lean on the arm of another.

4. To bend; to be in a bending posture.

LEAN, verb transitive

1. To incline; to cause to lean

2. To conceal. [Not in use.]

LEAN, adjective [Latin lenis, and Eng. slender.]

1. Wanting flesh; meager; not fat; as a lean body; a lean man or animal.

2. Not rich; destitute of good qualities; bare; barren; as lean earth.

3. Low; poor; in opposition to rich or great; as a lean action. [Unusual.]

4. Barren of thought; destitute of that which improves or entertains; jejune; as a lean discourse or dissertation.

LEAN, noun That part of flesh which consists of muscle without the fat.

LE'ANLY, adverb Meagerly; without fat or plumpness.

LE'ANNESS, noun

1. Destitution of fat; want of flesh; thinness of body; meagerness; applied to animals.

2. Want of matter; poverty; emptiness; as the leanness of a purse.

3. In Scripture, want of grace and spiritual comfort.

He sent leanness into their soul. Psalms 106:15.

For answering; i.e., in singing, occurs in the title to Psalms 88. The title "Mahalath (q.v.) Leannoth" may be rendered "concerning sickness, to be sung" i.e., perhaps, to be sung in sickness.

LE'ANY, adjective Alert; brisk; active. [Not in use.]