VAN  , an homonymous word, whose different meanings have no etymological connexion . In the most See also:

• COMMON

common sense " van " is merely an See also:

• ABBREVIATION (Lat. brevis, short)

abbreviation of the See also:

• ORIENTAL

Oriental word " See also:

• CARAVAN (more correctly Karwan)

caravan " (q.v.), and is applied to any large covered See also:

• CART (A.S. crcet, Gaelic cairt; connected with " car ")

cart or vehicle used for the See also:

• CONVEYANCE

conveyance of goods, especially See also:

• FURNITURE (from " furnish," Fr. fournir)

furniture, or, on See also:

• RAILWAYS

railways, to a closed See also:

• CARRIAGE

carriage for passengers' luggage, or for the See also:

• ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure)

accommodation of the guard . In the sense of the front portion of an See also:

• ARMY
• ARMY (from Fr. armee, Lat. armata)

army or See also:

• FLEET

fleet, or the advanced portion of any See also:

• BODY

body, actually or metaphorically, " van " represents the See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French avant (See also:

• LAT

Lat. ab ante), in front, as in avant-garde, van-guard, the earliest See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form in which the word came into See also:

• ENGLISH

English . Lastly, the word is used as a variant of " See also:

• FAN (Lat. vannus; Fr. eventail)

fan " (Lat. vannus) , for a contrivance for winnowing See also:

• GRAIN (derived through the French from Lat. granum, seed, from an Aryan root meaning " to wear down," which also appears in the common Teutonic word " corn ")

grain, for a See also:

• BIRD

bird's wing, and in See also:

• MINING

mining to an appliance for separating ore by washing .