Van

Pronunciation

• enPR: văn, IPA: /væn/
• Rhymes: -æn

Short for caravan.

Full definition of van

Noun

1. A (covered) vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck.
   The van sped down the road.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
2. (British) A railway carriage.
3. (UK, dated) A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
4. Form of Shortened form.
• 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 5, lines 588–590:Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd, / Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare / Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve
• 1698, Ned Ward, The London SpyThen a bumper to the Queen led the van of our good wishes, another to the Church Established, a third was left to the whim of the toaster...
• 1965, translated by Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Mahabharata, book 4 Virāṭa Parva, section 33, page 84:BhÄ«á¹£ma then outlined the following strategy: “… Let Karṇa, clad in armour, stand in the van. And I shall command the entire army in the rear.”
5. Form of Shortened form.

Derived terms

• serial killer van

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive) To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
• 1966, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce:I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them.
• 1999, Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads, p. 53:They had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing.

Cornish

Noun

1. (mining) A shovel used in cleansing ore.

Verb

1. (mining) To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.

Latin vannus ("a van, or fan for winnowing grain"): compare French van and English fan, winnow.

Noun

1. A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
2. A wing with which the air is beaten.
• MiltonSo Satan fell; and strait a fiery globe
  Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
  Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him soft...
• DrydenHe wheeled in air, and stretched his vans in vain;
  His vans no longer could his flight sustain.

Anagrams

• AVN, nav