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pan¹

(păn)

1. A shallow, wide, open container, usually of metal and without a lid, used for holding liquids, cooking, and other domestic purposes.

2. A vessel similar in form to a pan, especially:

a. An open metal dish used to separate gold, other precious metals, or gemstones from gravel or waste by washing.

b. Either of the receptacles on a balance or pair of scales.

c. A vessel used for boiling and evaporating liquids.

a. A basin or depression in the earth, often containing mud or water.

b. A natural or artificial basin used to obtain salt by evaporating brine.

c. Hardpan.

4. A freely floating piece of ice that has broken off a larger floe.

5. The small cavity in the lock of a flintlock used to hold powder.

6. Music A steel drum.

7. Slang The face.

8. Informal Severe criticism, especially a negative review: gave the film a pan.

v. panned, pan·ning, pans

v.tr.

1. To wash (gravel, for example) in a pan to separate out gold, other precious metals, or gemstones.

2. To cook (food) in a pan: panned the fish right after catching it.

3. Informal To criticize or review harshly.

v.intr.

1. To wash gravel, sand, or other sediment in a pan.

2. To yield gold as a result of washing in a pan.

Phrasal Verb:

pan out

To turn out well; be successful: "If I don't pan out as an actor I can still go back to school" (Saul Bellow).

[Middle English, from Old English panne, from West Germanic *panna, probably from Vulgar Latin *patna, from Latin patina, shallow pan, platter, from Greek patanē; see petə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

pan²

(pän)

Variant of paan.

pan³

(păn)

v. panned, pan·ning, pans

v.intr.

To pivot a movie camera along a horizontal plane in order to follow an object or create a panoramic effect.

v.tr.

To pivot (a movie camera) in a specified direction.

A pivoting movement of a movie camera.

[Short for PANORAMA or PANORAMIC.]

PAN

peroxyacetyl nitrate

pan-

pref.

1. All: panorama.

2. also Pan- Involving all of or the union of a specified group: Pan-Hellenic.

3. General; whole: panleukopenia.

[Greek, from pan, neuter of pās, pant-, all; see pant- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Pan.

abbr.

1. Panama

2. Panamanian

Pan

(păn)

Greek Mythology The god of woods, fields, and flocks, having a human torso and head with a goat's legs, horns, and ears.

[Middle English, from Latin Pān, from Greek.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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