pan1
- a broad, shallow container of metal, usually having sides flaring outward toward the top, used in various forms for frying, baking, washing, etc.
- any similar receptacle or part, as the scales of a balance.
- the amount a pan holds or can hold; panful: a pan of shelled peas.
- any of various open or closed containers used in industrial or mechanical processes.
- a container in which silver ores are ground and amalgamated.
- a container in which gold or other heavy, valuable metals are separated from gravel or other substances by agitation with water.
- a drifting piece of flat, thin ice, as formed on a shore or bay.
- a natural depression in the ground, as one containing water, mud, or mineral salts.
- a similar depression made artificially, as for evaporating salt water to make salt.
- (in old guns) the depressed part of the lock, holding the priming.
- Also panning. an unfavorable review, critique, or appraisal: The show got one rave and three pans.
- Slang. the face.
- Informal. to criticize severely, as in a review of a play.
- to wash (gravel, sand, etc.) in a pan to separate gold or other heavy valuable metal.
- to cook (oysters, clams, etc.) in a pan.
- to wash gravel, sand, etc., in a pan in seeking gold or the like.
- to yield gold or the like, as gravel washed in a pan.
- pan out, Informal. to turn out, especially successfully: The couple's reconciliation just didn't pan out.
Origin of pan1
pan2
- the leaf of the betel.
- a substance, especially betel nut or a betel-nut mixture, used for chewing.
Origin of pan2
pan3
- to photograph or televise while rotating a camera on its vertical or horizontal axis in order to keep a moving person or object in view or allow the film to record a panorama: to pan from one end of the playing field to the other during the opening of the football game.
- (of a camera) to be moved or manipulated in such a manner: The cameras panned occasionally during the scene.
- to move (a camera) in such a manner: to pan the camera across the scene.
- to photograph or televise (a scene, moving character, etc.) by panning the camera.
- the act of panning a camera.
- Also called panning shot. the filmed shot resulting from this.
Origin of pan3
pan4
- a major vertical division of a wall.
- a nogged panel of half-timber construction.
Origin of pan4
pan5
Origin of pan5
Pan
- the ancient Greek god of forests, pastures, flocks, and shepherds, represented with the head, chest, and arms of a man and the legs and sometimes the horns and ears of a goat.
pan-pan
- an international distress signal used by shore stations to inform a ship, aircraft, etc., of something vital to its safety or to the safety of one of its passengers.
Origin of pan-pan
Examples from the Web for pans
Contemporary Examples
“The people are outraged, everyone is on his balcony, beating pots and pans” in protests, he said.
Her first job was as a “kitchen boy,” carrying pots and pans to Makalu.
There were two cars, so the camera sees one taxi go under the bridge, then it pans and sees another car drive up to the station.
Ralph Fiennes Discusses ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel,’ J. Lo, and That ‘Seinfeld’ EpisodeMarlow Stern
March 6, 2014
However it pans out, this miserable shutdown is not going to help their cause.
If it pans out, this would mark one of the rare occurrences that Galliano participates in a long interview.
Rihanna Reportedly Sues Topshop; John Galliano May Participate in a TV Interview with Charlie RoseThe Fashion Beast Team
May 17, 2013
Historical Examples
When the cakes are baked, they usually reach the top of the pans.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
You should have one of the pans that are made purposely for omelets.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
There was a small black stove and pans on it and dishes on a stand.
The Innocent AdventuressMary Hastings Bradley
In the morning stir it down with a spoon to get the air out, and put it in the pans.
I let it rise in the pans about two hours before I put it in the oven.
Pan
- Greek myth the god of fields, woods, shepherds, and flocks, represented as a man with a goat's legs, horns, and earsRelated adjectives: Pandean, Panic
pan1
- a wide metal vessel used in cooking
- (in combination)saucepan
- Also called: panful the amount such a vessel will hold
- any of various similar vessels used esp in industry, as for boiling liquids
- a dish used by prospectors, esp gold prospectors, for separating a valuable mineral from the gravel or earth containing it by washing and agitating
- either of the two dishlike receptacles on a balance
- Also called: lavatory pan British the bowl of a lavatory
- a natural or artificial depression in the ground where salt can be obtained by the evaporation of brine
- a natural depression containing water or mud
- Caribbean the indented top from an oil drum used as the treble drum in a steel band
- See hardpan, brainpan
- a small ice floe
- a slang word for face (def. 1a)
- a small cavity containing priming powder in the locks of old guns
- a hard substratum of soil
- short for pan loaf
- (when tr, often foll by off or out) to wash (gravel) in a pan to separate particles of (valuable minerals) from it
- (intr often foll by out) (of gravel) to yield valuable minerals by this process
- (tr) informal to criticize harshlythe critics panned his new play
Word Origin
pan2
- to move (a film camera) or (of a film camera) to be moved so as to follow a moving object or obtain a panoramic effect
- the act of panning
- (as modifier)a pan shot
Word Origin
pan3
paan (pɑːn)
- the leaf of the betel tree
- a preparation of this leaf which is chewed, together with betel nuts and lime, in India and the East Indies
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for pans
pan
n.
Old English panne, earlier ponne (Mercian) "pan," from West Germanic *panna "pan" (cf. Old Norse panna, Old Frisian panne, Middle Dutch panne, Dutch pan, Old Low German panna, Old High German phanna, German pfanne), probably an early borrowing (4c. or 5c.) from Vulgar Latin *patna, from Latin patina "shallow pan, dish, stewpan," from Greek patane "plate, dish," from PIE *pet-ano-, from root *pete- "to spread" (see pace (n.)). Irish panna probably is from English, and Lithuanian pana is from German.
Used of pan-shaped parts of mechanical apparatus from c.1590; hence flash in the pan, a figurative use from early firearms, where a pan held the priming (and the gunpowder might "flash," but no shot ensue). To go out of the (frying) pan into the fire is first found in Spenser (1596).
pan
v.2
"follow with a camera," 1913 shortening of panoramic in panoramic camera (1878). Meaning "to swing from one object to another in a scene" is from 1931. Related: Panned; panning.
Pan
Arcadian shepherd god with upper body of a man and horns and lower part like a goat, late 14c., a god of the woods and fields, from Latin, from Greek Pan. Klein says perhaps cognate with Sanskrit pusan, a Vedic god, guardian and multiplier of cattle and other human possessions, literally "nourisher." Similarity to pan "all" (see pan-) led to his being regarded as a personification of nature. Pan-pipe, upon which he supposedly played, is attested from 1820.
pan
v.1
"to wash gravel or sand in a pan in search of gold," 1839, from pan (n.); thus to pan out "turn out, succeed" (1868) is a figurative use of this (literal sense from 1849). The meaning "criticize severely" is from 1911, probably from the notion in contemporary slang expressions such as on the pan "under reprimand or criticism" (1923). Related: Panned; panning.
Pan
The Greek god of flocks, forests, meadows, and shepherds. He had the horns and feet of a goat. Pan frolicked about the landscape, playing delightful tunes.
Note
Note
Idioms and Phrases with pans
pan
In addition to the idiom beginning with pan
- pan out
also see:
- flash in the pan
- out of the frying pan