The meaning of LEAN is to incline, deviate, or bend from a vertical position.

lean adjective (NOT ENOUGH) If a period of time is lean, there is not enough of something, especially money or food, at that time:

If you describe an organization as lean, you mean that it has become more efficient and less wasteful by getting rid of staff, or by dropping projects which were unprofitable.

LEAN definition: to incline or bend from a vertical position. See examples of lean used in a sentence.

1. a. Not fleshy or fat; thin. b. Containing little fat or less fat relative to a standard: lean hamburger. 2. a. Not productive or prosperous; meager: lean years. b. Containing little excess or waste; spare: a lean …

lean on, [Informal.] to exert influence or pressure on in order to gain cooperation, maintain discipline, or the like: The state is leaning on the company to clean up its industrial wastes.

Lean definition: To bend or slant away from the vertical.