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Strength vs Lean - What's the difference?

strength | lean |

As a noun strength

is the quality or degree of being strong.

As a verb strength

is (obsolete) to give strength to; to strengthen.

As a proper noun lean is

.

strength

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The quality or degree of being strong.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength —all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • The intensity of a force or power; potency.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
  • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) xlvi. 1
  • God is our refuge and strength .
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
  • Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation.
  • A positive attribute.
  • (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * fortitude * power * ability * capability * potency * expertise

    Antonyms

    * (The quality of being strong) weakness * (A positive attribute) weakness

    Derived terms

    * bond strength * compressive strength * crushing strength * dielectic strength * fatigue strength * field strength * full-strength * impact strength * industrial-strength * inner strength * ionic strength * party strength * pillar of strength * relative strength * shear strength * strengthen * strengthening * strengthful * strengthless * strengthy * superstrength * tensile strength * tower of strength * ultimate strength * understrength * wet strength * yield strength

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen.
  • * 1395 , (John Wycliffe), Bible , Job IV:
  • Lo! thou hast tau?t ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
    (Chaucer)

    lean

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ; via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.

    Verb

  • To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
  • To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; with to'', ''toward , etc.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • They delight rather to lean to their old customs.
  • To rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.; with on'', ''upon'', or ''against .
  • * (1809-1892)
  • He leaned not on his fathers but himself.
  • * , chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • To hang outwards.
  • To press against.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • His fainting limbs against an oak he leant .
    Derived terms
    * lean back * leaning * lean on * lean-to

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (of a person or animal) slim; not fleshy.
  • (of meat) having little fat.
  • Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
  • a lean''' budget; a '''lean harvest
  • Of a fuel-air mixture, having more air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; more air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
  • (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
  • lean copy, matter, or type
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year=1938 , month=July , author=Blaine and Dupont Miller , title=Weather Hop , page=25 , magazine=Boy's Life , publisher=Boy Scouts of America , issn=0006-8608 citation , passage=He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose. }}
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , year=2002 , month=July , author=Tom Benenson , title=Can Your Engine Run Too Lean? , volume=129 , issue=7 , page=73 , magazine=Flying , issn=0015-4806 citation , passage=Even the Pilot's Operating Handbooks (POH) for our training airplanes add to our paranoia with their insistence that we not lean the mixture until we're above 5000 feet density altitude. }}

    Etymology 3

    Icelandic (leyna)?; akin to (etyl) word for "deny". Compare .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To conceal.
  • (Ray)

    See also

    *

    References

    * *