2. That which produces effects analogous to those of a fan, as in exciting a flame, etc.; that which inflames, heightens, or strengthens; as, it served as a fan to the flame of his passion.
3. A quintain; — from its form. [Obs.] Chaucer. Fan blower, a wheel with vanes fixed on a rotating shaft inclosed in a case or chamber, to create a blast of air (fan blast) for forge purposes, or a current for draft and ventilation; a fanner. — Fan cricket (Zoöl.), a mole cricket. — Fan light (Arch.), a window over a door; — so called from the semicircular form and radiating sash bars of those windows which are set in the circular heads of arched doorways. — Fan shell (Zoöl.), any shell of the family Pectinidæ. See Scallop, n., 1. — Fan tracery (Arch.), the decorative tracery on the surface of fan vaulting. — Fan vaulting (Arch.), an elaborate system of vaulting, in which the ribs diverge somewhat like the rays of a fan, as in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey. It is peculiar to English Gothic. — Fan wheel, the wheel of a fan blower. — Fan window. Same as Fan light (above).
FAN
Fan, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fanned; p. pr. & vb. n. Fanning.] Etym: [Cf.
OF. vanner, L. vannere. See Fan, n., Van a winnowing machine.]
1. To move as with a fan. The air . . . fanned with unnumbered plumes. Milton.
2. To cool and refresh, by moving the air with a fan; to blow the air on the face of with a fan.
3. To ventilate; to blow on; to affect by air put in motion. Calm as the breath which fans our eastern groves. Dryden.
4. To winnow; to separate chaff from, and drive it away by a current of air; as, to fan wheat. Jer. li. 2.
5. To excite or stir up to activity, as a fan axcites a flame; to stimulate; as, this conduct fanned the excitement of the populace. Fanning machine, or Fanning mill, a machine for separating seed from chaff, etc., by a blast of air; a fanner.
FANAL
Fa`nal", n. Etym: [F.]
Defn: A lighthouse, or the apparatus placed in it for giving light.