pan1
/
pan/
n.
- a metal container for cooking food in.
- a bowl fitted at either end of a pair of scales.
▸Brit. the bowl of a toilet.
▸a shallow bowl in which gravel and mud is shaken and washed by people seeking gold.
- a steel drum.
- a hollow in the ground in which water collects or in which a deposit of salt remains after evaporation.
- a hard stratum of compacted soil.
- a part of the lock that held the priming in old types of gun.
- US informal a person's face.
v.
(pans, panning, panned)
- informal criticize severely.
- wash gravel in a pan to separate out (gold).
-
(pan out)
end up or conclude, especially in a good way.
Phrase
- go down the pan
Brit. informal reach a stage of abject failure or uselessness.
Derivative
- panful n.
(pl. panfuls)
. - pan-like adj.
Etymology
OE panne, of W. Gmc origin, perh. based on L. patina ‘dish’.
pan2
/
pan/
v.
(pans, panning, panned)
swing (a video or film camera) in a horizontal or vertical plane to give a panoramic effect or follow a subject.
n.
a panning movement.
Phrase
- pan and scan
a technique for narrowing the aspect ratio of a widescreen film to fit a television screen by continuously selecting the most significant portion of the original picture.
Etymology
early 20th cent.: abbrev. of panorama.