vane definition | Dictionary.com

vane

[veyn]

–noun

1.	weather vane.

2.	a blade, plate, sail, etc., in the wheel of a windmill, to be moved by the air.

3.	any of a number of blades or plates attached radially to a rotating drum or cylinder, as in a turbine or pump, that move or are moved by a fluid, as steam, water, hot gases, or air.

4.	a person who is readily changeable or fickle.

Aerospace.

a.	any fixed or movable plane surface on the outside of a rocket providing directional control while the rocket is within the atmosphere.

b.	a similar plane surface located in the exhaust jet of a reaction engine, providing directional control while the engine is firing.

6.	Ornithology. the web of a feather.

7.	Navigation, Surveying. either of two fixed projections for sighting an alidade or the like.

8.	Archery. feather (def. 5).

Origin:
bef. 1100; ME; OE fana flag; c. G Fahne flag, Goth fana segment of cloth; cf. gonfanon

Related forms:

vaned, adjective

vaneless, adjective

Vane

[veyn]

–noun

Sir Henry (Sir Harry Vane

), 1613–62, British statesman and author.

weather vane

–noun

a device, as a rod to which a freely rotating pointer is attached, for indicating the direction of the wind.

Also, weath⋅er⋅vane.

Also called vane, wind vane.

Origin:
1715–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To vane

vane (vān)

A weathervane.
Any of several usually relatively thin, rigid, flat, or sometimes curved surfaces radially mounted along an axis, as a blade in a turbine or a sail on a windmill, that is turned by or used to turn a fluid.
The flattened, weblike part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the shaft.
1. The movable target on a leveling rod.
2. A sight on a quadrant or compass.
One of the metal guidance or stabilizing fins attached to the tail of a bomb or other missile.

[Middle English fane, vane, from Old English fana, flag; see pan- in Indo-European roots.]

Vane (vān)

English politician and colonial administrator who was governor of Massachusetts (1636-1637) and a leading Parliamentarian during the English Civil War. He was tried and executed for high treason after the restoration of the monarchy.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Vane

Vane\, n. [OE. & E. Prov. E. fane weathercock, banner, AS. fana a banner, flag; akin to D. vaan, G. fahne, OHG. fano cloth, gund fano flag, Icel. f[=a]ni, Sw. fana, Dan. fane, Goth. fana cloth, L. pannus, and perhaps to Gr.? a web, ? a bobbin, spool. Cf. Fanon, Pane a compartment, panel.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : vane

Spanish: costumbre,

German: der Brauch,

Japanese: 習慣

More Translations »

vane

"wind indicator," 1425, southern England alteration (see V) of fane. from O.E. fana "flag, weather-cock," from P.Gmc. *fanon (cf. Goth. fana "piece of cloth," O.H.G. fano, Ger. Fahne "flag, standard"); possibly cognate with L. pannus "piece of cloth."

Vane (vān), John Robert. Born 1927.

British pharmacologist. He shared a 1982 Nobel Prize for research on prostaglandins.

vane (vān) Pronunciation Key
The flattened, weblike part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the rachis.

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