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Fan
Definitions
- 1 A diminutive of Frances.
"I see now what brings you about our house so much. You want to get hold of Fan and her business and little savings for yourself, do you?"
- 2 A county of Puyang, Henan, China.
"In a report boasting of the rich supply of commodities in Fan County of Honan Province , the Peiping Ta Kung Pao of 1 December 1965 pointed out: “ Within 10 days before the autumn festival of this year, the commercial organs in Fan County[...]"
- 3 The station code of Fanling in Hong Kong.
- 4 A surname from Mandarin.
- 1 A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself.
- 2 A person who is fond of something or someone, especially an admirer of a performer or aficionado of a sport.
"I am a big fan of libraries."
- 3 A unit of length, equivalent to 0.1 tsun (0.01 chek), or 0.00371475 metres. Hong-Kong, dated
"1 chek (foot) = 14⅝ English inches divided into 10 tsün (inches) and each tsün into ten fan or tenths."
- 4 Initialism of file area network. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 5 a device for creating a current of air by movement of a surface or surfaces wordnet
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- 6 An electrical or mechanical device for moving air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc.
"He didn't switch on the fan because the temperature was 15 degrees Celsius."
- 7 Initialism of free amino nitrogen, amino acids available for yeast metabolism. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 8 an ardent follower and admirer wordnet
- 9 The action of fanning; agitation of the air.
""If I cannot be of service, then I certainly don't wish to impose," said McGinty, with a quick fan of breeze that indicated a sweeping bow."
- 10 an enthusiastic devotee of sports wordnet
- 11 Anything resembling a hand-held fan in shape, e.g., a peacock’s tail.
- 12 An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away.
"The oxen likewise and the yong asses that eare the ground, shall eate cleane prouender which hath bene winnowed with the shouell and with the fanne."
- 13 A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of a smock mill always in the direction of the wind.
- 14 A section of a tree having a finite number of branches
- 1 To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise. transitive
"We enjoyed standing at the edge of the cliff, being fanned by the wind."
- 2 blow away or off with a current of air wordnet
- 3 To slap (a behind, especially). transitive
"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."
- 4 make (an emotion) fiercer wordnet
- 5 To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan. intransitive
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- 6 strike out (a batter), (of a pitcher) wordnet
- 7 To dispel by waving a hand-held fan. transitive
"I attempted to fan the disagreeable odour out of the room."
- 8 agitate the air wordnet
- 9 To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun. transitive
"To fan a single action revolver, hold down the trigger and strike the hammer repeatedly with a free hand."
- 10 To invigorate, like flames when fanned. figuratively
"She comes, to fan my ardour, She kills me with her kisses."
- 11 To winnow grain.
"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.""
- 12 To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession. transitive
"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."
- 13 To strike out. intransitive
- 14 To strike out (a batter). transitive
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.
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.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s Proto-Italic *faznom Latin fānum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Italic *-kos Latin -cus Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin fānāticuslbor. ▲ French fanatiqueinflu. English fanatic English fancyinflu. English fan Clipping of fanatic, originally in US baseball slang. Possibly influenced by fancy (“group of sport or hobby enthusiasts”), i.e. fancy boy (“fan”).
From Cantonese 分. Doublet of fen and hoon.
Shortening of Fanny, itself a short form of Frances.
From Mandarin 范 (Fàn).
See also for "fan"
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