vanes 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

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–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 vanes

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) 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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