vane

Meaning

Noun

• A weather vane.
• Any of several usually relatively thin, rigid, flat, or sometimes curved surfaces radially mounted along an axis, as a blade in a turbine or a sail on a windmill, that is turned by or used to turn a fluid.
• The flattened, web-like part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the shaft.
• A sight on a sextant or compass.
• One of the metal guidance or stabilizing fins attached to the tail of a bomb or other missile.

Origin

• From Middle English vane, Southern Middle English variant of fane, from Old English fana, from Proto-Germanic *fanô. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foone and German Fahne. Compare obsolete fane.