ˈvān noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English (southern dialect), from Old English fana flag, banner; akin to Old High German fano cloth, gund fano war flag, gonfalon, Old Norse gunn fani, Gothic fana piece of cloth, rag, Latin pannus, Greek pēnē thread on a bobbin, woof, web
1.
a. : a movable device attached to a spire, mast, or other elevated object for showing the direction of the wind
b. : one that is changeable or inconstant
2. : a flat or curved surface exposed to a flow of air, gas, or liquid so as to be impelled to move or to rotate about an axis, to redirect the flow (as in a turbine), or itself to be the impeller
the vanes of a windmill
the vanes of a fan blower
the vanes of a ship's screw
the vanes of a washing machine agitator
the vanes of an aerial bomb
3. : the web or flat expanded part of a feather formed of the barbs and their appendages
4. : a feather fastened to the shaft near the nock of an arrow
5.
a. : the target of a leveling rod
b. : one of the sights of a compass or quadrant