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leaning (n.)
Old English hlininga; verbal noun from lean (v.). Figurative sense "inclination, tendency" is from 1580s. Related: Leanings.
Entries linking to leaning
lean (v.)c. 1200, from Old English hlinian "to recline, lie down, rest; bend or incline" (Mercian hleonian, Northumbrian hlionian), from Proto-Germanic *hlinen (source also of Old Saxon hlinon, Old Frisian lena, Middle Dutch lenen, Dutch leunen, Old High German hlinen, German lehnen "to lean"), from PIE root *klei- "to lean."
Transitive sense "cause to lean or rest" is from 14c. Meaning "to incline the body against something for support" is mid-13c. Figurative sense of "to trust for support" is from early 13c. Sense of "to lean toward mentally, to favor" is from late 14c. Related: Leaned; leaning. Colloquial lean on "put pressure on" (someone) is first recorded 1960.
Transitive sense "cause to lean or rest" is from 14c. Meaning "to incline the body against something for support" is mid-13c. Figurative sense of "to trust for support" is from early 13c. Sense of "to lean toward mentally, to favor" is from late 14c. Related: Leaned; leaning. Colloquial lean on "put pressure on" (someone) is first recorded 1960.
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Definitions of leaning
1
leaning (n.)
an inclination to do something;
he felt leanings toward frivolity
leaning (n.)
a natural inclination;
leaning (n.)
the act of deviating from a vertical position;
leaning (n.)
the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical;
2
leaning (adj.)
departing or being caused to depart from the true vertical or horizontal;
the leaning tower of Pisa
