Also 5–7 vanne (7 wanne), 7–8 vann. [Southern var. of FAN sb.1, perh. partly a. OF. van or ad. L. vannus. Cf. WFlem. van, Du. wan, G. wanne, Sw. vanna.]
1. A winnowing basket or shovel; = FAN sb.1 1 a.
Also, in mod. dial., = FANNER 2.
c. 1450. [see FAN sb.1 1 a, β].
c. 1481. Caxton, Dialogues, 38. Ghyselin the mande maker Hath sold his vannes,… His temmesis to clense with.
1566. Adlington, Apuleius, 121. Then al the people … toke a great number of Vannes replenished with odors and pleasaunt smelles.
1598. Barckley, Felic. Man, III. (1603), 246. At last he was put in a vanne,… and tossed up and downe that he might not sleepe.
1600–1791. [see FAN sb.1 1 a, β].
1801. Ranken, Hist. France, I. 430. The van was a broad shovel, with which they threw the grain with force to a distance, while the light chaff fell behind.
1807. J. Robinson, Archæol. Græca, V. xiv. 477. To put them in vans or implements for winnowing corn.
1863. J. G. Murphy, Comm., Lev. vii. 30. It is used of the van in winnowing.
1880–. in south-western dial. glossaries.
b. A shovel used for lifting charcoal or testing ore.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva, 102. Your Coals sufficiently cool’d, with a very long-toothed Rake, and a Vann, you may load them into the Coal-wains.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Vauning, This instrument called the Vann [printed Vaun], is a long and moderately deep wooden shovel.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2689/2. Van, a shovel used in sifting ore.
c. [Cf. VAN v.] A process of testing ore on a shovel; the amount of metal obtained by this test.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 216. If the Van will cover or equal the weight of a crown piece, it is good Tin-stuff, and is termed a Crown Van.
1880. W. Cornw. Gloss., Van, a rude process of trying tin ores by crushing and washing on a shovel.
c. 1888. Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., XII. 64 (Cent.). As he watched the process of making a van on a shovel, and saw the copper roll up to the highest point.
† 2. = FAN sb.1 1 d. Obs.–1
1458. Maldon (Essex) Liber B., fol. ii. b. John Dale hath in his kepynge a justyng sadel, ii vannys, and a sper.
3. A wing; = FAN sb.1 4. Chiefly poet.
1667. [see FAN sb.1 4 β].
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 583. Strait a fiery Globe Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh, Who on their plumy Vans receiv’d him soft.
1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., XII. 749. He wheel’d in Air, and stretch’d his Vans in vain; His Vans no longer cou’d his Flight sustain.
1791–. [see FAN sb.1 4].
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., vii. (1816), I. 215. Its ample vans are calculated to catch the wind as sails, and so to carry it sometimes over the sea.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, xxxiii. 342. A carrion crow flapped its vans above the heads of man and wife.
1879. E. Arnold, Lt. Asia, VI. (1881), 156. Bright butterflies Fluttered their vans, azure and green and gold.
fig. 1898. G. Meredith, Poet. Wks. (1912), 549. Beneath the vans of doom did men pass in.
† 4. ? The vane of a ship. Obs.–1
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 13. The Vans of the next Ships (though groveling with a neighbouring Wave) could not be discerned.
5. A sail of a windmill; = FAN sb.1 6 c. (Cf. VANE 3 a.)
1837. Landor, Pentameron, Wks. 1846, II. 352. A sigh sets her windmill at work van over van, incessantly.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, IV. 520. As a windmill seen at distance radiating Its delicate white vans against the sky.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Prof. Breakf.-t., xi. With his arms flying … like the vans of a windmill.
