fan
/fæn/ verb C2- To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise. · We enjoyed standing at the edge of the cliff, being fanned by the wind.
- To slap (a behind, especially).
- To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan.
- To dispel by waving a hand-held fan. · I attempted to fan the disagreeable odour out of the room.
- To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun.
- To invigorate, like flames when fanned.
- To winnow grain.
- To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession.
He/she/it fans · Past fanned · Past participle fanned · -ing form fanning
Verb forms
- Base form
- fan
- He/she/it
- fans
- Past
- fanned
- Past participle
- fanned
- -ing form
- fanning
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, “Oh!
won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting!” Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, “If you please, sir—” The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.
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: “Dear, dear!
“I must be growing small again.” She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it, and found that, as nearly as she could guess, she was now about two feet high, and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding, and she dropped it hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.
Other matches
Learn fan in real texts
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