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fan1

Syllabification: (fan)
Pronunciation: /fan/

Translate fan | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of fan

noun

  • 1an apparatus with rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or ventilation.
  • 2a device, typically folding and shaped like a segment of a circle when spread out, that is held in the hand and waved so as to cool the person holding it by causing the air to move.
  • a thing or shape resembling an open handheld fan.
  • an alluvial or talus deposit spread out in an open fan shape at the foot of a slope.
  • a small sail for keeping the head of a windmill toward the wind.
  • 3a device for winnowing grain.

verb (fans, fanning, fanned)

  • 1 [with object] cool (especially a person or a part of the body) by waving something to create a current of air:he fanned himself with his hat
  • (of breath or a breeze) blow gently on:his breath fanned her skin as he leaned toward her
  • [with object] brush or drive away with a waving movement:a veil of smoke which she fanned away with a jeweled hand
  • [no object] Baseball & Ice Hockey swing at and miss the ball or puck.
  • [no object] Baseball (of a batter) strike out.
  • Baseball (of a pitcher) strike out (a batter).
  • 2 [with object] increase the strength of (a fire) by blowing on it or stirring up the air near it:gusty wind fanned fires in Yellowstone Park
  • cause (a belief or emotion) to become stronger or more widespread:long-range weather forecasts fanned fears of drought damage
  • 3 [no object] disperse or radiate from a central point to cover a wide area:the arriving passengers began to fan out through the town in search of lodgings
  • spread out or cause to spread out into a semicircular shape: [no object]:a dress made of tiny pleats that fanned out as she walked [with object]:a wind fanned her hair out behind her

Derivatives

fanlike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/

adjective

fanner

noun

Origin:

Old English fann (as a noun denoting a device for winnowing grain), fannian (verb), from Latin vannus 'winnowing fan'. Compare with vane

fan in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of fan in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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