different between lean vs cower

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?n, IPA^(key): /li?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n
• Homophone: lien

Etymology 1

From Middle English lenen (“to lean”), from Old English hleonian, hlinian (“to lean, recline, lie down, rest”), from Proto-Germanic *hlin?n? (“to lean, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *?ley-. Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Middle Dutch leunen (“to lean”), German lehnen (“to lean”); via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.

Verb

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

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

2. (copulative) To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.
3. Followed by against, on, or upon: to rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.
4. To hang outwards.
5. To press against.

Derived terms

Related terms

• climate
• cline

Translations

Noun

lean (plural leans)

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.

Synonyms

• (inclination away from vertical): tilt

Etymology 2

From Middle English lene (“lean”), from Old English hl?ne (“lean”), (cognate with Low German leen), perhaps from hl?nan (“to cause to lean (due to hunger or lack of food)”), from Proto-Germanic *hlainijan? (“to cause to lean”). If so, then related to Old English hlinian, hleonian (“to lean”).

Adjective

lean (comparative leaner, superlative leanest)

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

   Synonyms: lithe, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender

2. (of meat) Having little fat.

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

   Synonyms: insufficient, scarce, sparse; see also Thesaurus:inadequate

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

   Synonyms: deficient, dilute, poor

   Antonym: rich

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

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

Derived terms

• leanness
• leansome

Translations

Noun

lean (countable and uncountable, plural leans)

1. (uncountable) Meat with no fat on it.
   • 1639 or earlier, Anon, Jack Sprat

     Jack Sprat would eat no fat, / His wife would eat no lean.

2. (countable, biology) An organism that is lean in stature.
   • 1986, Southwest Fisheries Center (U.S.), Collected Reprints (issue 1)

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

   • 2012, Obesity: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional (page 56)

     Obese Zuckers, compared to leans, consumed more food under free-feeding conditions.

Verb

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.

Etymology 3

From Icelandic leyna? Akin to German leugnen (“deny”). Compare lie (“speak falsely”).

Verb

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

1. To conceal.

References

Etymology 4

Probably from the verb to lean (see etymology 1 above), supposedly because consumption of the intoxicating beverage causes one to "lean".

Noun

lean (uncountable)

1. (slang, US) A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.

   Synonyms: sizzurp, syrup, purple drank

See also

• lean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• lean in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• lean in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Alne, ELAN, Lane, Lena, Nale, Neal, elan, enal, lane, nale, neal, élan

Galician

Verb

lean

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of ler

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?leyH- (“to smear”); compare Latin lin? (“anoint”), l?mus (“mud, slime”), Sanskrit ?????? (lin?ti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /l?an??/
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): /l??an?/, /l??an??/

Verb

lean (present analytic leanann, future analytic leanfaidh, verbal noun leanúint, past participle leanta)

1. (transitive, intransitive) follow
2. continue

3. remain
4. endure

Conjugation

• Alternative verbal noun: leanacht (Cois Fharraige)

Derived terms

• folean
• leantóir

Further reading

• "lean" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “lenaid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /?lea?n/

Verb

lean

1. inflection of leat:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. past indicative connegative

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læ???n/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *laun?, from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *leh?w- (“catch, plunder, profit”). Cognate with Old Frisian l?n, Old Saxon l?n, Dutch loon, Old High German l?n (German Lohn), Old Norse laun (Swedish lön), Gothic ???????????????? (laun). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ???? (leía) (from *?????), Latin lucrum, Old Church Slavonic ???? (lov?) (Russian ??? (lov)), Old Irish lóg, Lithuanian lãvinti.

Noun

l?an n

1. reward

Declension

Derived terms

• i?l?an

Related terms

• l?anian

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *lahan?. Cognate with Old Saxon lahan, Old High German lahan, Old Norse lá, Gothic ???????????????????? (laian).

Verb

l?an

1. (transitive) to blame, fault, reproach

Conjugation

Descendants

• Middle English: *l?en (attested in past tense lough)

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?leyH- (“to smear”); compare Latin lin? (“anoint”), Sanskrit ?????? (lin?ti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n/

Verb

lean (past lean, future leanaidh, verbal noun leantainn or leanmhainn, past participle leanta)

1. follow
2. continue, proceed

Derived terms

• fo-leantach (“subjunctive”)
• lean air (“continue”)
• ainlean (“persecute”)

Spanish

Verb

lean

1. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of leer.
2. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of leer.
3. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes^?) present subjunctive form of leer.

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

lean n (plural leanen, diminutive leantsje)

1. wage, wages, salary
2. reward

Further reading

• “lean”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ka??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ka??/
• Rhymes: -a?.?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cowre, couren, curen, from Middle Low German kûren (“to lie in wait; linger”) or from North Germanic (Icelandic kúra (“to doze”)). Cognate with German kauern (“to squat”), Dutch koeren (“to keep watch (in a cowered position)”), Serbo-Croatian kutriti (“to lie in a bent position”). Unrelated to coward, which is of Latin origin.

Verb

cower (third-person singular simple present cowers, present participle cowering, simple past and past participle cowered)

1. (intransitive) To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.

   He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.

   • 1700, John Dryden, "The Cock and the Fox", in Fables, Ancient and Modern, published March 1700:

     Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To crouch in general.
   • 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller:

     Some sterner virtues o’er the mountain’s breast
     May sit, like falcons, cowering on the nest

   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer:

     The mother bird had mov’d not,
     But cowering o’er her nestlings,
     Sate confident and fearless,
     And watch’d the wonted guest.

3. (transitive) To cause to cower; to frighten into submission.

Translations

See also

• coward
• cowardice

Etymology 2

Verb

cower (third-person singular simple present cowers, present participle cowering, simple past and past participle cowered)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To cherish with care.

Anagrams

• Crowe