To gather leftover grain or other crops after the main harvest, or more generally to collect small amounts of information gradually.
From Old French 'glener,' possibly from Latin 'glena' meaning ear of grain. The practice of gleaning dates back thousands of years and is mentioned in the Bible.
The right to glean—where poor people could collect leftover crops—was a medieval form of social safety net, so 'gleaning' represents one of history's first welfare systems built into agricultural society!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.