fan
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fæn/
text: Audio (Southern England)
ipa: /faːn/
ipa: [fɛən]
ipa: [feən]
ipa: [fɛːn]
rhymes: -æn
homophone: faan
homophone: fanne
Forms: form: fans
form: fanning
form: fanned
form: fanned
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English fan, inherited from Old English fann (“a winnowing, fan”), derived from Latin vannus (“fan for winnowing grain”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).
Cognates
*Latin ventus (“wind”)
*Dutch wan (“winnowing basket”)
*German Wanne (“winnowing basket”)
*Swedish vanna (“a fan for winnowing”)
*Old English windwian (“to fan, winnow”).
More at winnow.
Senses: examples: text: We enjoyed standing at the edge of the cliff, being fanned by the wind.
text: Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: […]
ref: 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Pool of Tears”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 19:
glosses: To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise.
examples: text: Part of it was that as much as I respected filial devotion and as much as I liked Sarah Barstow, it would have been a real satisfaction to put her across my knees and pull up her skirts and giver^([sic]) her a swell fanning, for not taking a look at that driver.
ref: 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 148:
glosses: To slap (a behind, especially).
qualifier: usually to fan out
glosses: To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan.
examples: text: I attempted to fan the disagreeable odour out of the room.
glosses: To dispel by waving a hand-held fan.
examples: text: To fan a single action revolver, hold down the trigger and strike the hammer repeatedly with a free hand.
ref: 2011, Hans-Christoan Vortisch, GURPS Tactical Shooting, page 14:
topics: engineering
firearms
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
glosses: To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun.
examples: text: She comes, to fan my ardour, She kills me with her kisses.
ref: 1923, Arthur Symons, Love's Cruelty, page 43:
glosses: To invigorate, like flames when fanned.
examples: text: By the first article, these fanning mills were appointed to be sent to the proprietors of the mills of Sault-à-la puce, Petit-Pré, Beauport, Pointe de Lévy, St. Nicolas and Ste. Famille in the isle of Orleans " to have all the wheat in general of whatever quality sent to these mills passed and fanned, before converting them into flour."
ref: 1856, François Réal Angers Lelièvre, Lower Canada reports:
glosses: To winnow grain.
examples: text: Fanning the brakes results in the gradual depletion of the pressure in the cars' brake reservoirs, which can eventually cause a loss of all braking.
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To strike out.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To strike out (a batter).
Derived terms: fan-in
fanner
fan-out
fan out
fanout
fan the fire
fan the flame
fan the flames
refan
Related terms: sense: to firing a revolver by holding trigger and hitting hammer
word: thumbing