any device for producing a current of air by the movement of a broad surface or a number of such surfaces.
2.
an implement of feathers, leaves, paper, cloth, etc., often in the shape of a long triangle or of a semicircle, for waving lightly in the hand to create a cooling current of air about a person: We sat on the veranda, cooling ourselves with palm-leaf fans.
3.
anything resembling such an implement, as the tail of a bird.
4.
any of various devices consisting essentially of a series of radiating vanes or blades attached to and revolving with a central hublike portion to produce a current of air: ceiling fan; wall fan.
5.
a series of revolving blades supplying air for winnowing or cleaning grain.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Western U.S.(chiefly cowboy use). to slap the flanks of (a horse or other animal) repeatedly with a hat to get it to move or move faster.
20.
to spread out like a fan (often followed by out): The forest fire fanned out in all directions.
21.
Baseball. (of a batter) to strike out, usually by swinging at and missing the pitch charged as the third strike.
Idiom
22.
hit the fan, Slang. to become suddenly more awkward, embarrassing, or troublesome: When news of the incident was leaked to the press, everything hit the fan at once.
Origin: before 900; Middle English, Old English fann < Latin vannus winnowing basket
1889, Amer.Eng., originally of baseball enthusiasts, probably a shortening of fanatic, but may be influenced by the Fancy (1807), a collective term for followers of a certain hobby or sport (especially boxing). There is an isolated use from 1682, but the modern word is likely a new formation.
tv. to ignore someone or something; to cut a class; to blow (so/sth) off. (Fan off = blow as in blow (so) off. Fan, from fanatic meaning “devotee” or “admirer” is very old and is Standard English.) : You have to meet with your teacher? Oh, fan that. It doesn't matter.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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