refan
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: refans
form: refanning
form: refanned
form: refanned
Etymology: From re- + fan.
Senses: examples: text: You flashing star that shines so bright In the pale moon's pallor light, A sullen hope erstwhile now springs, And the lost soul refans its wings; It mounts, falls further down in scorn, A victim for thee, O brother worm.
ref: 1910, William Scott, Poems, page 22:
glosses: To fan again:
To spread again.
examples: text: The heat was great, and the nights were passed in fanning oneself to sleep, awaking, and refanning to sleep again.
ref: 1872, William Morrison Bell, Other Countries - Volume 2, page 11:
text: The common is breezy ; the air cannot stagnate, and is nowhere obstructed, but, as described by Dr. Linden, " fans and refans from corner to corner, from any point whatsoever it may happen to blow."
ref: 1895, Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, The Climates and Baths of Great Britain:
text: After he has swept the sediment from the stones he proceeds to clean up the nest by nosing the smaller particles off to one side, sometimes even picking up pebbles in his mouth and carrying them away, after which he refans the stones until they have a polished appearance.
ref: 1932, Ohio. Dept. of Agriculture. Division of Conservation. Bureau of Scientific Research, Bulletin - Volume 1, Issues 4-8, page 15:
glosses: To fan again:
To cause air to blow on again.
examples: text: When gaining a victory, visions of further successes buoyed me up and refanned my sinking courage ; a well-contested but lost game caused me to apply myself to renewed study, and so engaged I often passed the midnight hours in solitude over the chess-board.
ref: 1881, How Mephisto was Caught: A Chess Legend, page 331:
glosses: To fan again:
To revive or reinvigorate.
examples: text: I know that I am dilating upon a subject that I have already made mention of, but it cannot be too forcibly brought to the attention of planters that the selection of Mother Seed of the very best quality is of vital importance and that no rice ought to be planted that has not gone through a screening and refanning process so as to eliminate the light, chaffy, chalky and imperfect grains, all of which reproduce themselves in a plant that is weak and sickly and tends to deterioration.
ref: 1916, The Rice Journal ... - Volume 19, Issues 3-12, page 35:
glosses: To fan again:
To winnow again.
examples: text: A new engine would have to be markedly superior not only to the JT8D but also to a JT8D or Rolls-Royce Spey refanned to a higher bypass ration.
ref: 1998, Robert V. Garvin, Starting Something Big: The Commercial Emergence of GE Aircraft Engines, →ISBN:
text: Senator Goldwater, in reducing the funding in the program, we looked very hard at the benefits that would accrue to refanning the JT8D as compared with the JT3D.
ref: 1973, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1974:
text: In our July, 1974, statement, we presented preliminary test results on the effect on sea level fuel consumption of refanning an experimental engine.
ref: 1975, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Aviation and Transportation R. & D, Aircraft Noise Abatement:
text: The results of refanning new JT8D aircraft in combination with other noise reduction options are shown in figures lz and l3 for 1981.
ref: 1975, Further Studies of Methods for Reducing Community Noise Around Airports:
glosses: To retrofit an airplane engine with a turbofan that reduces noise.