我在美国快22 年了。从来没听说过有人"put a lean"在别人上。可是英语有个次叫"lien". Lien翻译过来就是留置权. For all non-chinese speakers out there refer to Tim, I'm a businessman not a lawyer, sorry.

What does "put a lean on/against" mean? 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. On the other hand, if you change your spelling to use the legal term, "lien" such as property or real estate lien, you get a different meaning: A right given to another by the owner of property to secure a debt, or one created by law in favor of certain creditors. I hope this helps.

I think you mean "To put a lien on something." Lien and not lean. Lien: A right to keep property belonging to another person until a debt is paid. If someone fails to pay a creditor what is owed and therefore fails to fulfill the established agreement, the creditor can go to a judge and have a lien placed on the debtor's property (house, car, boat ect). Once the lien is filed by the creditor, the property is now a form of collateral and becomes a source of payment for the debt.