van

Meanings

Noun

• A covered vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck/lorry.
• An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods.
• A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
• A large towable vehicle equipped for the repair of structures that cannot easily be moved.
• Short form of vanguard
• A shovel used in cleansing ore.
• A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
• A wing with which the air is beaten.

Verb

• To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
• Of law enforcement: to arrest (not necessarily in a van; derived from party van).
• To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.

Origin

• Short for caravan.
• Shortening of vanguard.
• From Cornish.
• From Latin vannus ("a van, or fan for winnowing grain"): compare French van and English fan, winnow. fan.