car·a·van

[kar-uh-van] noun, verb, car·a·vaned or car·a·vanned, car·a·van·ing or car·a·van·ning.
noun
1.
a group of travelers, as merchants or pilgrims, journeying together for safety in passing through deserts, hostile territory, etc.
2.
any group traveling in or as if in a caravan and using a specific mode of transportation, as pack animals or motor vehicles: a caravan of trucks; a camel caravan.
3.
a large covered vehicle for conveying passengers, goods, a sideshow, etc.; van.
4.
Chiefly British. a house on wheels; trailer.
verb (used with object)
5.
to carry in or as if in a caravan: Trucks caravaned food and medical supplies to the flood's survivors.
00:10
Caravan is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
to spend time idly; loaf.
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
verb (used without object)
6.
to travel in or as if in a caravan: They caravaned through Egypt.

Origin:
1590–1600; earlier carovan < Italian carovana < Persian kārwān

car·a·van·ist, noun


1. parade, procession, train, cavalcade, band.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
caravan (ˈkærəˌvæn) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a.  US and Canadian name: trailer a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived in
 b.  (as modifier): a caravan site
2.  (esp in some parts of Asia and Africa) a company of traders or other travellers journeying together, often with a train of camels, through the desert
3.  a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc, esp travelling in single file
4.  a large covered vehicle, esp a gaily coloured one used by Romany Gypsies, circuses, etc
 
vb , -vans, -vanning, -vanned
5.  (Brit) (intr) to travel or have a holiday in a caravan
 
[C16: from Italian caravana, from Persian kārwān]
 
'caravanning
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

caravan
1588, from M.Fr. caravane, from O.Fr. carouan, picked up in the Crusades from Pers. karwan "group of desert travelers." Used in Eng. for "vehicle" 17c., esp. for a covered cart. In modern British use, often a rough equivalent of the U.S. mobile home.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Days ago, your group of adventurers joined a desert caravan.
The caravan people as well as the stock suffered acutely from alkali water, which was boiled and used for coffee.
The whole caravan had to stop while they debated whether to stone her or cut off her head.
Wood blithely offered to help and eventually delivered a mountain of books by a caravan of donkeys.
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