leaner

Pluralleaners

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of lean.

   Grass-fed beef tends to be leaner than grain-fed beef.

   The new budget is leaner, with fewer staff and lower running costs.

   Note

   The ordinary way English compares lean is with the suffix -er rather than with more lean, as most one-syllable adjectives do. It carries every sense of lean: leaner meat, a leaner budget, a leaner mixture, a leaner company in the lean-manufacturing sense. The same spelling also names someone who leans, a noun with the plural leaners. The adjective never takes an -s, which is the quickest way to tell them apart.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   Someone who leans, or who inclines toward something such as a particular side, position, or preference.

   He was a chronic leaner, never able to stand for long without something to rest on.

   The campaign focused its final push on leaners who had not yet committed to a candidate.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A tall sign, usually built from repurposed wood and propped upright against a wall on a porch.

   He hung a wreath above the leaner that greeted guests on the porch.

   These seasonal leaners, painted with cheerful slogans, rest against many suburban front steps.

   Note

   Here the -er of lean + -er names an object rather than a person. The sign takes its name from how it is displayed: it is propped against a wall or post rather than hung or staked into the ground. It shares its plural, leaners, with the person who leans, so the surrounding words do the sorting. Porch, front step and seasonal decoration point to the sign.

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