fan
( fans plural & 3rd person present) ( fanning present participle) ( fanned past tense & past participle )
1 n-count 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.
usu n N, N of n
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.
She would have to wait in the truck, fanning herself with a piece of cardboard... V pron-refl
Mo kept bringing me out refreshments and fanning me as it was that hot. V n
4 n-count 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.
oft supp N
He cools himself in front of an electric fan., ...an extractor fan.
5 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.
During the afternoon, hot winds fan the flames. V n
6 verb If someone fans an emotion such as fear, hatred, or passion, they deliberately do things to make people feel the emotion more strongly.
(=fuel)
He said students were fanning social unrest with their violent protests. V n
7 →
to fan the flames →
flame →
the shit hit the fan →
shit fan out phrasal verb If a group of people or things fan out, they move forwards away from a particular point in different directions.
(=spread out) The main body of British, American, and French troops had fanned out to the west... V P
fan belt ( fan belts plural ) In a car engine, the fan belt is the belt that drives the fan which keeps the engine cool. n-count
fan club ( fan clubs plural ) A fan club is an organized group of people who all admire the same person or thing, for example a pop singer or pop group. Members of the fan club receive information and can take part in activities such as trips to concerts. n-count