vane
/veɪn/ noun, proper noun
Forms vanes
- noun A weather vane.
- noun 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.
- noun (ornithology) The flattened, web-like part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the shaft.
- noun (navigation) A sight on a sextant or compass.
- noun (weaponry) One of the metal guidance or stabilizing fins attached to the tail of a bomb or other missile.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English vane, Southern Middle English variant of fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner, flag”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanō, from Proto-Germanic *fanô, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“something woven; weave; tissue; fabric; cloth”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foone (“flag, banner”), Dutch vaan (“banner, flag”), German Low German Fahn (“flag”), German Fahne. Doublet of obsolete fane (“weathercock; banner”) and fanon.
Variant of Vanes or Fayne.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A contrivance attached to some elevated object for the purpose of showing which way the wind blows; a weathercock. It is usually a plate or strip of metal, or slip of wood, often cut into some fanciful form, and placed upon a perpendicular axis around which it moves freely.
- noun Any flat, extended surface attached to an axis and moved by the wind; as, the vane of a windmill; hence, a similar fixture of any form moved in or by water, air, or other fluid; as, the vane of a screw propeller, a fan blower, an anemometer, etc.
Etymology [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. fani, Sw. fana, Dan. fane, Goth. fana cloth, L. pannus, and perhaps to Gr.Fanon, Pane a compartment, panel.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “vane”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details