van - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Abbreviation of English Valman.

van

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Valman.

A van (motor vehicle).

Short for caravan.

van (plural vans)

  1. A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.
    Synonyms: (chiefly if used to carry a few people; "minivan" is officially used in North America) minivan, minibus
    • 2023 May 19, Matthew Hall, “Los Angeles Councilwoman targets “vanlord” industry”, in Santa Monica Daily Press‎[2]:
      While Santa Monica has a longstanding prohibition against public camping that includes living in vehicles, the van rental business has been a problem in Venice for years. […] Organizations that provide safe parking locations have limited capacity and are often unable to accommodate the kind of non-operational vans that are being repurposed as makeshift housing.
    • 2024 June 22, James Tapper, “Carbon emissions from vans still rising as UK drivers cling to diesel”, in The Guardian‎[3], →ISSN:
      Carbon emissions from vans in the UK have risen by 63% since 1990, new analysis shows, as cars are getting cleaner. While more people are opting to drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars, van drivers still prefer diesel because electric vans are much more expensive with little choice of models.
  2. (British) An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.
  3. (dated) A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
  4. (aerospace) A large towable vehicle equipped for the repair of structures that cannot easily be moved.
    • 1959, Western Aerospace, volume 39, page 46:
      Designed to be fully mobile and self-contained, the complete equipment includes an air-conditioned van containing all necessary electronic gear and a flat bed trailer in which missiles, jet engines and other large assemblies may be cleaned.

a covered vehicle

enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods

van (third-person singular simple present vans, present participle vanning, simple past and past participle vanned)

  1. (transitive) To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
    • 1966, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them.
    • 1999, Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads, page 53:
      [They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing.
  2. (Internet slang, used in passive voice) Of law enforcement: to arrest (not necessarily in a van; derived from party van).
    • 2011, The hackers hacked: main Anonymous IRC servers invaded‎[4]:
      One Anon explained the reason for this, saying: "As for the domains, they were transferred to Ryan after some of us got vanned so he can keep the network up. What he did certainly wasn't the plan." (Getting "vanned" refers to getting picked up by the police.)
    • 2012, FBI names, arrests Anon who infiltrated its secret conference call‎[5]:
      He later told CW that he had been "v&" or "vanned" by the police, and he expressed surprise that the police showed him detailed transcripts of his conversations.
    • 2013, Redditor Confesses to Murder with Meme, Gets Doxed by Other Redditors, Deletes His Account and Disappears‎[6]:
      But not before someone supposedly forwarded all the information onto the FBI. In a last-ditch effort to avoid getting "vanned," Naratto tried to put the memie back in the bottle
    • 2015 13-year-old credited with hacking CIA director’s AOL account gives bizarre, possibly final interview
      The hacker says he thinks he is about to be v&, or “vanned,” meaning being raided by law enforcement, sometime soon.
    • 2016, Teen Allegedly Behind CIA, FBI Breaches: 'They're Trying to Ruin My Life.'‎[7]:
      On Wednesday night, Motherboard spoke to the teenager accused of being Cracka. "I got fucking v&," he told Motherboard, using "v&," the slang for "vanned," or getting arrested. (At this point, the arrest had not been made public.)
    • 2017, Dark Ops: An Anonymous Story‎[8], page 8:
      Commander X: Yep, so now you all know how I got vanned. And you just met the snitch who did it to me.

Shortening of vanguard.

van (plural vans)

  1. Clipping of vanguard.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎[9], book 5, lines 588–590:
      Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd, / Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare / Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve
    • 1698, Ned Ward, The London Spy:
      Then a bumper to the Queen led the van of our good wishes, another to the Church Established, a third was left to the whim of the toaster […]
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
      As for the guides, they were debarred from the pleasure of discourse, the one being placed in the van, and the other obliged to bring up the rear.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
    • 1965, “Virāṭa Parva”, in Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, transl., The Mahābhārata, book 4, translation of original in Sanskrit, section 33, page 84:
      Bhīṣma then outlined the following strategy: “… Let Karṇa, clad in armour, stand in the van. And I shall command the entire army in the rear.”

From Cornish.

van (plural vans)

  1. (mining) A shovel used in cleansing ore.

van (third-person singular simple present vans, present participle vanning, simple past and past participle vanned)

  1. (mining) To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.[1]

From Latin vannus (“a van, or fan for winnowing grain”): compare French van and English fan, winnow. Doublet of fan.

van (plural vans)

  1. A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
    • 1726, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, The Odyssey:
      with strange amaze / A shepherd meeting thee, the oar surveys, / And names a van (Book XI)
  2. A wing with which the air is beaten.
    • 1717, John Dryden, Ovid's Metamorphoses, book XII:
      He wheeled in air, and stretched his vans in vain; / His vans no longer could his flight sustain.
    • 1930, T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday:
      Because these wings are no longer wings to fly / But merely vans to beat the air […]
  1. ^ Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond (1881), “Van”, in A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. […], Easton, Pa.: [American] Institute [of Mining Engineers], […], →OCLC.

From Dutch van (“from; of”).

van

  1. of
  2. from

van

  1. (used with a following definite article) some of (the)
    Van die wêreld se beste wyne kom van hierdie streek af.
    Some of the world’s best wines are from this region.
    Ons het met van die belangrikste politieke leiers gespreek.
    We have spoken to some of the most important political leaders.

From French vent.

van

  1. air
  2. wind
  3. breath
  4. intestinal gas

van

  1. third-person plural present indicative of anar
    Van al cinema. ― They go to the cinema.
  2. (auxiliary, with infinitive) third-person plural present indicative of anar used to form periphrastic past
    Van anar al cinema. ― They went to the cinema.

From English van.

van

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, often in compounds) van; minibus; vehicle (Classifier: 架 c)

van m inan

  1. (archaic, poetic) breeze (light, gentle wind)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

van f

  1. genitive plural of vana

From Old Norse vanr (pl vanir (“one of two groups of gods in Norse mythology”)).

van c (singular definite vanen, plural indefinite vaner)

  1. one of the Vanir

From English van.

van c (singular definite vanen, plural indefinite vaner)

  1. van

From Old Norse vanr (“wont, accustomed”).

van

  1. (dated) pleje van – nurse, take care of

From Middle Dutch van, from Old Dutch fan (“from”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanā, from Proto-Germanic *fanē, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂poneh₁ (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo, *h₂pó (“off, of”).

Cognate with Old Saxon fana, fan (“from”), Old Frisian fan, fon (“from”), Old High German fona, fon (“from”).

van

  1. of (possession, property)
    de hoed van het meisje ― the hat of the girl
    het gewicht van een olifant ― the weight of an elephant
  2. of (general association)
    Zij was van adel. ― She was of noble stock.
    een stad van één miljoen inwoners ― a city of one million inhabitants
    Hij is een man van eer. ― He's a man of honour.
    Dat is hier niet van toepassing. ― That's not applicable here.
    de trein van tien uur ― the train of ten o'clock
  3. by, of (creator)
    een schilderij van Rubens ― a painting by Rubens
    een plaat van de Beatles ― a record of the Beatles
  4. from (origin)
    Hij is niet van hier. ― He's not from here.
  5. from (starting point of a movement or change)
    Hij ging van deur tot deur. ― He went from door to door.
    van vader op zoon. ― from father to son.
  6. from (starting point in time)
    van toen af aan. ― from then onwards
    van 's avonds laat tot 's morgens vroeg ― from late at night till the early morning
    van dag tot dag ― from day to day
  7. from, off (removal of something from off something else)
    het vlees van de beenderen snijden. ― to cut the meat from the bones
  8. of, out of, from, with (cause)
    sidderen van angst ― to tremble with fear
    tranen van geluk ― tears of joy
  9. of, out of, with (material or resource)
    Deze tafel is gemaakt van hout. ― This table is made (out) of wood.
    Van dit geld kan ik een basgitaar kopen. ― With this money I'm able to buy a bass.
  10. of, out of, among (out of a larger whole; partitive)
    de jongste van zijn dochters ― the youngest of his daughters
    Van alle mensen ben ik de mooiste. ― Out of all people I am the most beautiful.
    Drink niet te veel van dat bier, het is erg sterk. ― Don't drink too much of that beer, it is very strong.
  11. from, was, formerly (indicating a change in price)
    van 5 €, voor 3 € ― was €5, now €3
  12. (colloquial) like (quotative (used to introduce direct speech))
    Hij had zoiets van, hoepel op. ― He was like, sod off.
    Ik dacht van hé, wat gek. ― I thought like hey, how strange.

van

  1. of, from
    Ik neem er tien van. ― I’ll take ten of them.
  2. from
    Ik vertrek van daar. ― I’ll start from there.
  3. by, from
    Ik word er gek van. ― It drives me crazy.
    Men wordt daar sloom van. ― It turns one numb.
  4. of, about
    Wat zegt u daar van? ― What do you say about that?
    Ik weet daar niks van. ― I don’t know anything about that.

van m (plural vans or vannen, no diminutive)

  1. a surname or nickname beginning with the preposition van
  2. any surname
    Synonyms: achternaam, familienaam

van

  1. third-person plural present indicative of andèr

Latin vannus

van m (plural vans)

  1. a winnowing basket

Borrowed from English van.

van m (plural vans)

  1. a horse trailer
    • Adolphe de Neuter, Mémoires d'un entraîneur, volume 1: La casaque rose, Paris: Imprimerie Kapp, 1925, p. 145
      C'est à l'occasion du Saint-Léger gagné par Elis que l'on usa pour la première fois d'un van comme mode de locomotion pour les chevaux. Ce fut l'occasion d'un coup monstre.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
      ils leur ont montré comment faire monter un cheval dans un van, le lâcher, effectuer les premiers soins de sauvetage avant l’arrivée du vétérinaire.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

From Old Galician-Portuguese vão (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin vānus (“empty”). Cognate with Portuguese vão and Spanish vano.

van (feminine va, masculine plural vans, feminine plural vas)

  1. empty, devoid of content, containing only air
  2. useless, ineffective
  3. (of a person) vacuous, trivial-minded

van m (plural vans)

  1. waist
  2. empty, vacant

van

  1. go; third-person plural present indicative of ir

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

van m (plural vans)

  1. (agriculture) winnowing machine

From French vent (“wind”).

van

  1. wind

From Old Hungarian vagyon. See Hungarian volt.

van

  1. (copulative) to be
    Antonym: nem…
    Boldog vagyok. ― I am happy.
  2. there to be, to exist
    Synonyms: létezik, található
    Antonym: nincs
    Van itt valaki? ― Is there anybody here?
  3. to have; someone (-nak/-nek) has something (-a/-e/-ja/-je)
    Péternek van egy kutyája. ― Peter has a dog.
  4. to be made (out) of something (with -ból/-ből)
    Synonym: készült
    Ez az ajtó fából van. ― This door is made out of wood.
  5. (auxiliary, construed with -va/-ve (adverbial participle) of the main verb) to be (indicating the statal passive)
    A lakásom biztosítva van. (from biztosítva ← biztosít) ― My apartment (flat) is (has been) insured.
    A probléma meg van oldva. (from megoldva ← megold) ― The issue is (has been) solved.
    • 1846, János Arany, translated by Anton N. Nyerges, Toldi‎[12], canto 6, stanza 13:
      „Szakmány módra van rám mérve minden óra: / Jöttem kegyelmedhez búcsuvevő szóra.”
      “Every hour is measured as though by contract. / I come to bid you now farewell.”

The functions of this verb don’t fully overlap with the usage of corresponding verbs of other languages (compare Spanish ser, estar or Thai คือ (kʉʉ), เป็น (bpen), อยู่ (yùu)):

(exist, there is, to have): (have is expressed by there is in Hungarian):

(With verbal prefixes):

Borrowed from English van.

van

  1. van

van (comparative plus van, superlative le plus van)

  1. vain, futile
  2. vain, worthless
  3. vain, conceited

Unadapted borrowing from English van.[1]

van m (invariable) (vehicles)

  1. van

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

van

  1. apocopic form of vanno (“they go; they must be”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

van (apocopated) (poetic)

  1. apocopic form of vano (“vain”)

  2. ^ van2 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Borrowed from English van, short for caravan.

van (Jawi spelling ۏن, plural **van-van or **van2)

  1. A van.

From Old Dutch fan, from Proto-Germanic *fanē.

van

  1. of
  2. from (a place, person)
  3. from (a time)
  4. out of
  5. from, out of, because of

van

  1. va + an, from a, of a

From Old Norse vanr.

van (neuter vant, definite singular and plural vane)

  1. being used to (doing) something

From Old Norse vanr m.

van m (definite singular vanen, indefinite plural vaner or vanar, definite plural vanene or vanane)

  1. (Norse mythology) one of the Vanir

Borrowed from Dutch van (“of, from”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fanē. Doublet of von.

van

  1. Used in Dutch surnames.

van

Unadapted borrowing from English van.

van m inan

  1. van (covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus)
    Synonym: pojazd wielozadaniowy
    Hyponym: minivan

Unadapted borrowing from English van.

van f (plural vans)

  1. (Brazil) van (a covered vehicle used for carrying goods)
    Synonym: furgão

Borrowed from Latin vānus, Italian vano.

van m or n (feminine singular vană, masculine plural vani, feminine/neuter plural vane)

  1. vain
  2. futile
  3. idle
  4. fruitless
  5. vainglorious

From Proto-Slavic *vъnъ.

vȁn (Cyrillic spelling ва̏н)

  1. except

vȁn (Cyrillic spelling ва̏н) [_with_ genitive]

  1. outside, out
    van kuće ― outside, outdoors
  2. out of
    van zemlje ― abroad

vȃn (Cyrillic spelling ва̑н)

  1. out, outside, outdoors

Borrowed from English van.

van m (plural vanes)

  1. van (vehicle)

From Latin vadunt, third-person plural present indicative of vadō (“to go”).

van

  1. third-person plural present indicative of ir

From Old Norse vanr, from Proto-Germanic *wanaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, desire, love”).[1]

van (comparative vanare, superlative vanast)

  1. accustomed to, used to, having the habit to
    Han är van vid att stiga upp klockan sju varje morgon.
    He is used to getting up at seven every morning.
  2. experienced, adept
    Hon är en van bilförare.
    She is an experienced driver.

Borrowed from Icelandic vanir (plural). First attested in 1737.

van c

  1. (Norse mythology, chiefly plural) a member of the Vanir
    Synonym: vanagud
    • 1993, Björn Collinder, transl., Den poetiska Eddan [The Poetic Edda]‎[15], Forum, accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, courtesy of Lunds universitetsbibliotek, archived from the original on 25 November 2025, Vafþrúðnismál 39:
      Han skapades i Vanheim av visa makter, åt gudarna gavs han som gisslan; då världen går under, då återvänder han hem till de vise vaner.
      He was created in Vanaheim by wise powers, and was given to the gods as a hostage; when the world comes to an end, he will return home to the wise Vanir.
  1. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*wana- 2”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 573

Unadapted borrowing from English van, short for caravan.

van (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜈ᜔)

  1. van (covered vehicle)
    Synonym: purgoneta

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Perhaps 問 (SV: vấn)”)

van • (𠹚, 喛)

  1. to beg, to implore

Borrowed from French valve.

(classifier cái) van

  1. valve

Borrowed from French valse.

van

  1. waltz

Southern speakers pronounce the loanwords meaning "valve" and "waltz" with the phoneme /n/, not /ŋ/.

van

  1. alternative form of fan
    • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 10:
      Van a vierd durst a bargher an a haar galshied too,
      When a weasel crossed the road, and a hare gazed at me too,

van?

  1. heaven, sky