GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found one definition

  1.       
    
    Vane , n. [OE. & Prov. E. fane weathercock, banner, AS. fana a banner, flag; akin to D. vaan, G. fahne, OHG. fano cloth, gund fano flag, Icel. fāni, Sw. fana, Dan. fane, Goth. fana cloth, L. pannus, and perhaps to Gr. πῆνος a web, πηνίον a bobbin, spool. Cf. Fanon, Pane a compartment, panel.]
    1913 Webster


    1913 Webster

    1. 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.
      1913 Webster

      Aye undiscreet, and changing as a vane.
      Chaucer.

      1913 Webster

    2. 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.
      1913 Webster
    3. (Zool.) The rhachis and web of a feather taken together.
      1913 Webster
    4. One of the sights of a compass, quadrant, etc.
      1913 Webster

      Vane of a leveling staff. (Surv.) Same as Target, 3.

      1913 Webster