Tuesday, December 9, 2014

gleam, glean

Gleam or gleam means a subdued light; a low flash or beam, literally or figuratively--
I saw a faint gleam in that direction; we must be near the coast.
The new treatment offers a gleam of hope for a full recovery.

Glean or glean means to gather the bits of grain left in the field after the harvest; to gather something bit by bit--
They went into the fields after the reapers, to glean what was left of the grain.
Just read through it quickly, and try to glean any relevant facts.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"We could see the faint gleam from a campfire, probably lit by workers waiting to glean the fields."

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