| 词组 | glean |
| 释义 | glean On the subject of glean, Bryson 1984 says this: "Enough of its original meaning lingers that it should still convey the idea of gathering thoroughly and arduously." The original meaning referred to is "to gather grain or other produce left by reapers." Bernstein 1965 notes that "by metaphorical extension it means to collect bits with great effort"; his objection of the word's usage covers Bryson's objection as well: "By improper extension it [glean] is misused to mean merely to gather." The extended sense of glean that both these authors are discussing developed, as indicated in the OED, during the 13th century; when it first came into use, it was indeed a simple extension of the original literal use of glean and implied the drudgery involved in that process. Over the years, though, and especially in the 20th century, glean has also come to be used frequently to mean merely "to find out, learn, ascertain." Both the original extended sense and the newer one are perfectly valid uses of glean: • "Of your inner life, my dear, we know nothing beyond such scraps as we can glean in spite of you, from little things which escape you almost before you know that you have said them." —Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, 1903 • Mrs. Truax, in her last letter, intimates that she can tell pretty exactly where I am, but she never gleaned it, I imagine, from any letter of mine —Alexander Woollcott, letter, 14 Feb. 1918 • ... taking down one book after another until she had gleaned all the information the library contained about the late Dr. Adam Savage —Robertson Da-vies, Tempest-tost, 1951 • The picture could be pieced together from hints and information gleaned at the President's press conference —N.Y. Times, 22 Feb. 1953 • ... much of what is believed about the United States Government can conveniently be gleaned from the memoirs of President Calvin Coolidge —John Kenneth Galbraith, New York, 15 Nov. 1971 • But I also fail to glean any insight from the man concerning the other oddities of his artistic eidos —Robert Craft, Stravinsky, 1972 • ... brought back a tale from which we were able to glean a new clarity about ourselves —Harper's, March 1971 • ... an eager British newsman, in a last and possibly desperate attempt to glean anything from the congress which would be even remotely intelligible — John Horgan, Commonweal, 9 Oct. 1970 • The latest gossip is eagerly gleaned —Timothy Green, Smithsonian, November 1982 |
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