leans

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of lean.

   He leans forward to catch every word of the quiet speaker.

   The bell tower leans slightly to the south after the earthquake.

   Note

   The everyday -s form, and it covers every use of the verb. It can describe a physical tilt (the tower leans south), reliance on someone or something for support, or a preference (he leans toward yes). It can also take an object, as when a pilot leans the mixture by thinning the fuel. The identical spelling also names a pilot's tilting illusion.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of lean.

   The skater's controlled leans into each turn kept her balanced at high speed.

   Surveyors noted slight leans in the towers and flagged them for inspection.

   Note

   A regular plural, but it belongs only to the countable meanings of the noun. Those are inclinations away from the vertical (the leans of old towers) and, more rarely, lean animals or people. Lean as fat-free meat and lean as the codeine cough-syrup drug are uncountable. In those meanings, the word normally has no plural at all.

3. 3
   noun

   A dangerous sensory illusion in which a pilot believes the aircraft is banking when it is actually wings-level, or the reverse, often causing spatial disorientation and loss of control.

   The pilot fought off the leans by relying on her attitude indicator instead of her senses.

   Flying into heavy cloud, he suddenly got the leans and had to level the wings by reading the instruments.

   Note

   A pilot's term that always takes the article: you get the leans, never a lean. It strikes in cloud, where there is no horizon to check against and the body's own sense of tilt becomes the only cue. The cure is to trust the flight instruments over that feeling. Left uncorrected, the leans can lead into a fatal graveyard spiral.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3