fan

[[t]fæ̱n[/t]]

♦♦

fans, fanning, fanned

1) N-COUNT: usu n N, N of n If you are a fan of someone or something, especially a famous person or a sport, you like them very much and are very interested in them.

If you're a Billy Crystal fan, you'll love this movie...

As a boy he was a Manchester United fan...

I am a great fan of rave music.

2) N-COUNT A fan is a flat object that you hold in your hand and wave in order to move the air and make yourself feel cooler.

3) VERB If you fan yourself or your face when you are hot, you wave a fan or other flat object in order to make yourself feel cooler.

[V pron-refl] She would have to wait in the truck, fanning herself with a piece of cardboard...

[V n] Mo kept bringing me out refreshments and fanning me as it was that hot.

4) N-COUNT: oft supp N A fan is a piece of electrical or mechanical equipment with blades that go round and round. It keeps a room or machine cool or gets rid of unpleasant smells.

He cools himself in front of an electric fan.

...an extractor fan.

5) N-COUNT You can describe anything that has the shape of a wide `V' with a curved part above it as a fan.

...its fan of tail feathers.

...a conservatory with an ornate fan-shaped roof.

6) VERB If you fan a fire, you wave something flat next to it in order to make it burn more strongly. If a wind fans a fire, it blows on it and makes it burn more strongly.

[V n] Kneeling in front of the open hearth, old Maria was fanning the smoldering fire...

[V n] During the afternoon burning period hot winds fan the flames.

7) VERB If someone fans an emotion such as fear, hatred, or passion, they deliberately do things to make people feel the emotion more strongly.

[V n] He said students were fanning social unrest with their violent protests.

[V n] ...economic problems which often fan hatred.

Syn:

fuel

8) to fan the flames → see flame

the shit hit the fan → see shit

Phrasal Verbs:

- fan out