van

Pluralvans

Formsvans, vanning, vanned

1. 1
   motor vehiclenouncountable

   A covered, roughly box-shaped motor vehicle used to carry goods or a small number of passengers, larger than a car but smaller than a truck or bus.

   The movers packed everything into a van and drove it across town.

   She drives a van big enough to seat her whole soccer team.

   UsagePeople usually ride in a van, as in a car, rather than on it as on a bus.

   Similarminivan, minibus

   Note

   Three unrelated words share its spelling, among them the shortening of vanguard and the old winnowing fan, so a van in an older text may not be a vehicle at all. The vehicle sense still breeds new words, such as vanlord, someone who rents out vans for people to live in. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Three etymologically separate words share the vehicle word's spelling: the shortening of vanguard, a Cornish mining term, and the winnowing-fan word. en.wiktionary.org
   • Van in an older text can have a nonvehicle meaning. en.wiktionary.org
   • Vanlord is formed from van and means someone who rents vans as housing. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   nouncountable

   A closed trailer, or a large truck built around a fully enclosed cargo box, used to move freight or the furniture of a household.

   The driver hitched the empty van to his rig and headed back to the warehouse.

   A furniture van blocked half the street while the movers emptied the house next door.

   Similartruck, trailer, lorry

3. 3
   railway wagonnounBritishcountable

   In British usage, an enclosed railway vehicle for carrying goods, or for carrying luggage and parcels on a passenger train.

   Shunters coupled three vans of grain to the rear of the goods train.

   Each van on the freight service was sealed before leaving the depot.

   Similarwagon, boxcar

   Note

   Railway English splits here. In British usage, an enclosed goods vehicle on the rails is a van, or in full a box van, while American railroads call the same thing a boxcar. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • British railway terminology uses van for an enclosed goods wagon, corresponding to American boxcar. en.wikipedia.org
   • Box van is an established British railway term. nnrailway.co.uk
4. 4
   transportverbtransitive

   To transport people, animals, or goods, especially horses, in a van or similar vehicle.

   The trainer vanned the colt to Saratoga the night before the race.

   Owners often van their horses hundreds of miles for a single show.

   UsageThe n doubles in vanned and vanning. You usually van horses to a show, race or stable.

   Similarship, transport, truck

   Note

   A verb at home in the horse world. Owners and trainers van their horses to shows, races and stables, often hiring a van company to do it. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Horse trainers arrange transport of their horses to shows. creechhorsetransportation.com
   • Horses are transported in vans to racetracks and stables. equineexpress.com
   • Horse owners and trainers hire specialist van companies for transport. equineexpress.com
5. 5
   front (army)nounabbreviationclipping

   The front part of an advancing army, fleet, or procession; also, the leading position in a movement or field. Short for vanguard.

   The general placed his fastest cavalry in the van of the column.

   Her lab has long been in the van of cancer research.

   UsageUsually with the, most often in the phrase in the van of something.

   Note

   Milton sets it against the rear in Paradise Lost (1667), and Fielding places a guide in the van. In Ned Ward's London Spy, a toast leads the van of good wishes, extending the meaning beyond armies. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Milton contrasts van with rear in Paradise Lost. en.wikisource.org
   • Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
   • Henry Fielding places a guide in the van in Tom Jones. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   arrestverbslangtransitive

   To arrest someone; used of law enforcement, whether or not the arrest actually involves a vehicle.

   Protesters joked that posting the video might get them vanned.

   After the leak, several members of the group worried they would be the next to get vanned.

   UsageUsually passive: get vanned, be vanned.

   Similararrest, detain, nab, bust

   Oppositerelease

   Note

   Hacker slang built on the joke of the party van, the vehicle that supposedly arrives to collect you. Online it is often written v&. Outside those circles it needs explanation, which reporters on Anonymous arrests regularly supplied in brackets. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The arrest sense derives from party van. en.wiktionary.org
   • The humorous party van is a law-enforcement vehicle coming to arrest someone. en.wiktionary.org
   • Reports about Anonymous supplied parenthetical explanations of vanned. arstechnica.com
   • Another report supplied a parenthetical explanation of the arrest slang. theguardian.com

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