# van

Pronunciation: say "VAN" /væn/

## Noun

1. 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.
   - Simple: A covered road vehicle with a box shape, used to carry goods or a small group of people.
   - _The movers packed everything into a van and drove it across town._
   - _She drives a van big enough to seat her whole soccer team._
2. A closed trailer, or a large truck built around a fully enclosed cargo box, used to move freight or the furniture of a household.
   - Simple: A big truck with a closed box on the back, or a closed trailer, used to carry goods or furniture.
   - _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._
3. In British usage, an enclosed railway vehicle for carrying goods, or for carrying luggage and parcels on a passenger train. *(British)*
   - Simple: In Britain, a closed rail car that carries goods, or passengers' bags and parcels.
   - _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._
5. The front part of an advancing army, fleet, or procession; also, the leading position in a movement or field. Short for vanguard. — Clipping of vanguard.
   - Simple: Short form of vanguard. Use it for the front part of an army or a group that leads the way.
   - _The general placed his fastest cavalry in the van of the column._
   - _Her lab has long been in the van of cancer research._

## Verb

4. To transport people, animals, or goods, especially horses, in a van or similar vehicle.
   - Simple: To move people, animals or goods from place to place in a van.
   - _The trainer vanned the colt to Saratoga the night before the race._
   - _Owners often van their horses hundreds of miles for a single show._
6. To arrest someone; used of law enforcement, whether or not the arrest actually involves a vehicle. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To arrest someone and take them away.
   - _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._

## Noun

7. A light wagon, either covered or open, formerly used by tradesmen and others to transport goods. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A light cart or wagon, covered or open, that traders once used to carry goods.
   - _Long before motor trucks, the carrier's horse-drawn van brought parcels and groceries out from town twice a week._
   - _A furniture dealer's van, drawn by two horses, blocked the narrow street._
8. A fan or other device, such as a sieve, used for winnowing grain by separating the kernels from the chaff. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A fan or screen that farmers used to separate grain from its dry outer shells.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A large vehicle, designed to be towed, that carries equipment for repairing structures that are hard to move.
- (noun) A wing, especially one used to beat the air in flight; found mainly in literary writing.
- (noun) A shovel used in cleansing ore, on which a small sample is washed to separate the valuable mineral.
- (verb) To wash or cleanse a small portion of ore on a shovel, separating the valuable mineral from the waste.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6–7** — A shortened form of "caravan."
**Meaning 5** — A shortening of "vanguard."
**Meaning 8** — The word goes back to Latin vannus, the name of a van or fan, a tool used to winnow grain. It is a doublet of fan, and it can be set beside French van and the English words fan and winnow.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/van (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).