n. & v.
n. 1 an apparatus, usu. with rotating blades, giving a current of air for ventilation etc. 2 a device, usu. folding and forming a semicircle when spread out, for agitating the air to cool oneself. 3 anything spread out like a fan, e.g. a bird's tail or kind of ornamental vaulting (fan tracery). 4 a device for winnowing grain. 5 a fan-shaped deposit of alluvium esp. where a stream begins to descend a gentler slope. 6 a small sail for keeping the head of a windmill towards the wind.
v. (fanned, fanning) 1 tr. a blow a current of air on, with or as with a fan. b agitate (the air) with a fan. 2 tr. (of a breeze) blow gently on; cool. 3 tr. a winnow (grain). b winnow away (chaff). 4 tr. sweep away by or as by the wind from a fan. 5 intr. & tr. (usu. foll. by out) spread out in the shape of a fan. fan belt a belt that drives a fan to cool the radiator in a motor vehicle. fan dance a dance in which the dancer is (apparently) nude and partly concealed by fans. fan heater an electric heater in which a fan drives air over an element. fan-jet = TURBOFAN. fan palm a palm-tree with fan-shaped leaves. fanlike adj. fanner n.
[ OE fann (in sense 4 of n.) f. L vannus winnowing-fan ]