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definitions

caravan

[kar-uh-van]
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noun

a group of travelers, as merchants or pilgrims, journeying together for safety in passing through deserts, hostile territory, etc.
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.
a large covered vehicle for conveying passengers, goods, a sideshow, etc.; van.
Chiefly British. a house on wheels; trailer.

verb (used with object), car·a·vaned or car·a·vanned, car·a·van·ing or car·a·van·ning.

to carry in or as if in a caravan: Trucks caravaned food and medical supplies to the flood's survivors.

verb (used without object), car·a·vaned or car·a·vanned, car·a·van·ing or car·a·van·ning.

to travel in or as if in a caravan: They caravaned through Egypt.

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RELATED WORDS

cavalcade, convoy, procession, expedition, band, train, troop, safari

Nearby words

  1. carat,
  2. caratacus,
  3. caratinga,
  4. caravaggio,
  5. caravaggio, michelangelo merisi da,
  6. caravanner,
  7. caravansary,
  8. caravanserai,
  9. caravel,
  10. caraway

Origin of caravan

1590–1600; earlier carovan < Italian carovana < Persian kārwān
Related formscar·a·van·ist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for caravan

British Dictionary definitions for caravan

caravan

noun

  1. a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived inUS and Canadian name: trailer
  2. (as modifier)a caravan site
(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
a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc, esp travelling in single file
a large covered vehicle, esp a gaily coloured one used by Romany Gypsies, circuses, etc

verb -vans, -vanning or -vanned

(intr) British to travel or have a holiday in a caravan
Derived Formscaravanning, noun

Word Origin for caravan

C16: from Italian caravana, from Persian kārwān
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for caravan

caravan

n.

1580s, from Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, carevane "caravan" (13c.), or Medieval Latin caravana, picked up during the Crusades from Persian karwan "group of desert travelers" (which Klein connects to Sanskrit karabhah "camel"). Used in English for "vehicle" 17c., especially for a covered cart. Hence, in modern British use (from 1930s), often a rough equivalent of the U.S. mobile home.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper