pan Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun cooking utensil consisting of a wide metal vessel
    cooking pan.
  2. noun (Greek mythology) god of fields and woods and shepherds and flocks; represented as a man with goat's legs and horns and ears; identified with Roman Sylvanus or Faunus
    goat god.
  3. noun shallow container made of metal
  4. noun chimpanzees; more closely related to Australopithecus than to other pongids
    genus Pan.
  5. verb make a sweeping movement
    • The camera panned across the room
  6. verb wash dirt in a pan to separate out the precious minerals
    pan off; pan out.
  7. verb express a totally negative opinion of
    trash; tear apart.
    • The critics panned the performance

WordNet

Pan noun
Etymology
OE. See 2d Pane.
Definitions
  1. A part; a portion.
  2. (Fort.) The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
  3. Perh. a different word. A leaf of gold or silver.
Pan transitive verb & intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. pan skirt, lappet, L. pannus a cloth, rag, W. panu to fur, to full.
Definitions
  1. To join or fit together; to unite. Obs. Halliwell.
Pan noun
Etymology
Hind. pan, Skr. parna leaf.
Definitions
  1. The betel leaf; also, the masticatory made of the betel leaf, etc. See etel.
Pan noun
Etymology
L., fr. Gr. .
Definitions
  1. (Gr. Myth.) The god of shepherds, guardian of bees, and patron of fishing and hunting. He is usually represented as having the head and trunk of a man, with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat, and as playing on the shepherd's pipe, which he is said to have invented.
Pan noun
Etymology
OE. panne, AS. panne; cf. D. pan, G. pfanne, OHG. pfanna, Icel., Sw., LL., & Ir. panna, of uncertain origin; cf. L. patina, E. paten.
Definitions
  1. A shallow, open dish or vessel, usually of metal, employed for many domestic uses, as for setting milk for cream, for frying or baking food, etc.; also employed for various uses in manufacturing. "A bowl or a pan." Chaucer.
  2. (Manuf.) A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating. See Vacuum pan, under Vacuum.
  3. The part of a flintlock which holds the priming.
  4. The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the upper part of the head; the brainpan; the cranium. Chaucer.
  5. (Crp.) A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
  6. The hard stratum of earth that lies below the soil. See Hard pan, under Hard.
  7. A natural basin, containing salt or fresh water, or mud. Ridley. Southey.
Pan transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Panned ; present participle & verbal noun Panning
Definitions
  1. (Mining) To separate, as gold, from dirt or sand, by washing in a kind of pan. U. S.
    We . . . witnessed the process of cleaning up and panning out, which is the last process of separating the pure gold from the fine dirt and black sand. Gen. W. T. Sherman.
Pan intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. (Mining) To yield gold in, or as in, the process of panning; -- usually with out; as, the gravel panned out richly.
  2. To turn out (profitably or unprofitably); to result; to develop; as, the investigation, or the speculation, panned out poorly. Slang, U. S.

Webster 1913