Meaning

7 senses
  1. A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.

    Transporter, Lieferwagen

    фурго́нfurgón, фу́раfúra, вэнvɛn

    фурго́нfurhón, венven

  2. (UK)An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.

    ваго́нvagón

    ваго́нvahón

  3. (dated)A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.

  4. A large towable vehicle equipped for the repair of structures that cannot easily be moved.

  5. A shovel used in cleansing ore.

  6. A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.

  7. A wing with which the air is beaten.

More definitions
  • a truck with an enclosed cargo space
  • a camper equipped with living quarters
  • (Great Britain) a closed railroad car that carries baggage or freight
  • the leading units moving at the head of an army

Examples

390 sentences
  1. Tom told Mary to get in the van.

    Том сказав Мері сісти до фургона.

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  2. Tom's van is parked in the driveway.

    Мікроавтобус Тома припаркований біля будинку.

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  3. Tom got out of the van.

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  4. Tom drove a van here today.

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  5. I don't often drive a van.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
a covered vehicle:
enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods:
Русский
By meaning 2
a covered vehicle:
enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
a covered vehicle:

Origin

Short for caravan. From Cornish. From Latin vannus (“a van, or fan for winnowing grain”)

Short for caravan.

From Cornish.

From Latin vannus (“a van, or fan for winnowing grain”): compare French van and English fan, winnow. Doublet of fan.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: vans
Singularvan
Pluralvans

regular

Synonyms

6 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • a camper equipped with living quarters:caravan
  • the leading units moving at the head of an army:vanguard
  • any creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts):avant-gardevanguardnew wave

Word family

54 related words

Collocations

6 patterns
  • in the van
  • drove a van
  • of the van
  • into the van
  • blue van
  • black van

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
van — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto