I. pan 1 S3 W3 /pæn/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: panne ]
1 . FOR COOKING a round metal container that you use for cooking, usually with one long handle and a lid SYN saucepan :
a frying pan
pots and pans
Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water.
2 . FOR BAKING CAKES ETC American English a metal container for baking things in SYN tin British English :
a cake pan
3 . OPEN CONTAINER American English a wide, usually round, open container with low sides, used for holding liquids
4 . TOILET British English the bowl of a toilet
5 . go down the pan British English informal to be wasted or become useless or ruined:
The business is rapidly going down the pan.
⇨ ↑ warming pan , ⇨ a flash in the pan at ↑ flash 2 (5)
II. pan 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle panned , present participle panning )
[ Sense 1,3: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ pan 1 ]
[ Sense 2: Date: 1900-2000 ; Origin: panorama ]
1 . CRITICIZE [transitive] informal to strongly criticize a film, play etc in a newspaper or on television or radio:
The movie was panned by the critics.
2 . CAMERA
a) [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] if a film or television camera pans in a particular direction, it moves in that direction and follows the thing that is being filmed:
The camera panned slowly across the crowd.
b) [intransitive and transitive] to move a camera in this way
3 . GOLD [intransitive and transitive] to wash soil in a metal container in order to separate gold from other substances
pan for
panning for gold in Alaska
pan out phrasal verb
to happen or develop in a particular way:
We’ll have to see how things pan out.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ criticize to say what you think is bad about someone or something:
He was criticized for not being tough enough with the terrorists.
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Stop criticizing my friends!
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It’s easy to criticize, but not so easy to offer helpful solutions.
▪ be critical of somebody/something to criticize someone or something, especially by giving detailed reasons for this:
The report was highly critical of the police investigation.
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The press have been critical of his leadership style.
▪ attack to criticize someone or something very strongly, especially publicly in the newspapers, on TV etc:
They attacked the government’s decision to undertake nuclear weapons tests.
▪ lay into somebody/tear into somebody to criticize someone very strongly for something they have done, especially by shouting at them:
He started laying into one of his staff for being late.
▪ tear somebody/something to shreds to find a lot of things wrong with someone’s arguments or ideas and make them seem very weak:
The prosecution will tear him to shreds.
▪ pan to strongly criticize a film, play etc in the newspapers, on TV etc:
Her first movie was panned by the critics.
▪ be pilloried especially written to be strongly criticized by a lot of people in the newspapers, on TV etc:
He was pilloried in the right-wing press.
▪ condemn to say very strongly in public that you do not approve of something or someone, especially because you think they are morally wrong:
Politicians were quick to condemn the bombing.