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leant
occasion past tense and past participle of lean (v.).
Entries linking to leant
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.
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Trends of leant
adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.
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updated on September 28, 2017
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