Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums General Topics Q&A about words Gleaning et al.
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
CapK is obviously using the verb "glean" to mean "to gather"; but my understanding of it is that it doesn't really mean "to gather" per se, but to follow the reapers/mowers in a field and gather up what they leave behind, as in the famous story recounted in the book of Ruth. On consulting my old MW, I find that it gives the meaning "to gather slowly or laboriously in bits" besides the one I know. It seems to me the idea of gathering in, whether fast or slow, is much different from gleaning, as the latter really refers to taking up a small amount of leftovers.
Is this, like "decimate", which we have discussed at length in another thread, another case of a word which has changed from its original meaning to a related but very different meaning? Do/would the rest of you use "glean" as a synonym for "gather"? (No brickbats intended, CapK,just looking for info.)
W3 would have it thus:
1) to gather together scattered remainder of grain or other produce left by reapers
2) to gather together, pick up, or acquire information bit by bit from some source
to me, this is just another transferral, or generalization -- I've never had an opportunity to use it in the original sense, just as with decimate.
But do they gather up the small amounts of leftover hay, and make the leftovers themselves into bales? Because that's the use of gleaning (for information) that I use; you kind of put small hints together and conclude something which wasn't told to you outright. As in, your girl friend keeps referring to her boyfriend in the past tense, and when she says "By the way, we broke up, you know" you say "So I gathered." You gleaned that from her hints!
WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high pil`d books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And feel that I may never live to trace...
the entire ode can be found at...
http://www.bartleby.com/101/635.html
so the sense of gleaning infromation is not a new one..
And my dictionary gives as the third meaning " to collect facts, etc"
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk
