VANE


Meaning of VANE in English

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

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.