English Explanatory Dictionary

fan

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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. An electrical or mechanical device for moving air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc.
  3. The action of fanning; agitation of the air.
  4. Anything resembling a hand-held fan in shape, e.g., a peacock’s tail.
  5. An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away.
  6. A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of a smock mill always in the direction of the wind.
  7. A group of overlapping cards exposed in various patience games.
  8. A section of a tree having a finite number of branches.
verb
  1. To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise.
  2. To slap (a behind, especially).
  3. To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan.
  4. To dispel by waving a hand-held fan.
  5. To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun.
  6. To invigorate, like flames when fanned.
  7. To winnow grain.
  8. To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession.
  9. To strike out.
  10. To strike out (a batter).
  11. To fail to properly shoot or pass the puck.
noun
  1. A person who is fond of something or someone, especially an admirer of a performer or aficionado of a sport.
noun
  1. A unit of length, equivalent to 0.1 tsun (0.01 chek), or 0.00371475 metres.
name
  1. A diminutive of Frances.
name
  1. A county of Puyang, Henan, China.
  2. A surname from Mandarin.
name
  1. The station code of Fanling in Hong Kong.
noun
  1. Initialism of file area network.
  2. Initialism of free amino nitrogen, amino acids available for yeast metabolism.

Pronunciation

/fæn/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Aquild-fan.wav /fan/ /faːn/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fan.wav [fɛən] [feən] [fɛːn] fän

Word forms

fan fans fanning fanned fen

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.

Synonyms

admirer aficionado buff connoisseur enthusiast devotee maniac fan fanatic fancier fancy fiend freak geek junkie partisan rooter zealot Fanxian

Antonyms

anti-fan hater

Related words

groupie Beatlemania addict thumbing fan-ch'ieh fan-tan T'u-lu-fan

Derived words

choker fan fan-assisted oven fanback fanbearer fan belt fanbelt fan blade fan-blast fanboat fan camera fan car fan coral fan dance fan death fanflower fanfold fanfoot fan-foot fanglomerate fan heater fan-in-fin fanjet fanleaf fanlike fan lobster fanmaker fanmaking fan marker fan mussel fan-nerved fan oven fan palm fanpetal fan-shaped fan sign fanskate fantailed fan-tailed fan tracery fan-veined fanweed fan-wheel fanwise fanwort fanwright hit the fan red-fan parrot the shit hit the fan fan out fan-in fanner fan-out fanout fan the fire fan the flame fan the flames refan acafan actifan Anglofan
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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