Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who gathers after reapers.
  • noun One who gathers slowly and assiduously.
  • noun A short-handled oyster-rake used by men wading in the water to gather oysters from the beds.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who gathers after reapers.
  • noun One who gathers slowly with labor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who gleans.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who gathers something in small pieces (e.g. information) slowly and carefully
  • noun someone who picks up grain left in the field by the harvesters

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • One gleaner from Aix-en-Provence explains that he lives on 90 euros a month: Istarted looking through bins because I was hard-up.

    2009 February 11 « Scavenging 2009

  • One gleaner from Aix-en-Provence explains that he lives on 90 euros a month: Istarted looking through bins because I was hard-up.

    2009 February « Scavenging 2009

  • One gleaner from Aix-en-Provence explains that he lives on 90 euros a month: Istarted looking through bins because I was hard-up.

    Gallic Gleaners Going Strong « Scavenging 2009

  • The wind is a lover, gently caressing, and a gleaner—sweeping clean the debris and breaking those who will not bend.

    When Animals Speak Penelope Smith 2009

  • Mr. Fischer depicts Champlain as a wise gleaner of facts who listened to Basque whalers, Breton fishermen, African slaves -- anyone who could impart information.

    A Forgotten Explorateur 2008

  • They include the Alagoas foliage-gleaner (Philydor noveasi, CR) and the Alagoas antwren (Myrmotherula snowi, CR).

    Biological diversity in the Atlantic Forest 2008

  • There was nothing random, from the point of view of God's purposes, in the time of Naomi and Ruth's arrival in Bethlehem, for through following the harvesters as a gleaner, humbly gathering what was left behind; Ruth would find the kind man who would take her under his protection; a kinsman.

    God Made Me Contemplative Belinda 2008

  • There was nothing random, from the point of view of God's purposes, in the time of Naomi and Ruth's arrival in Bethlehem, for through following the harvesters as a gleaner, humbly gathering what was left behind; Ruth would find the kind man who would take her under his protection; a kinsman.

    Archive 2008-04-01 Belinda 2008

  • They are not the same for the gleaner in the field, for the girl who sews at fifteen sous a day, for the daughter of a petty shopkeeper, for the young bourgoise, for the child of a rich merchant, for the heiress of a noble family, for a daughter of the house of Este.

    Modeste Mignon 2007

  • Oddly enough it was Mr Ryan's rant on the editorial page complaining about how the media..the gleaner in particular was ignoring his organization while promoting Pro Choice that caused me to point out just how well his group plays the media game.

    Free Speech My Ass The Pedgehog 2007

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  • Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

    Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

    Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

    Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

    Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

    Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

    Steady thy laden head across a brook;

    Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

    Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

    - John Keats, 'Ode To Autumn'.

    August 8, 2009