van

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An enclosed boxlike motor vehicle having rear or side doors and side panels especially for transporting people.
2. n. A covered or enclosed truck or wagon often used for transporting goods or livestock.
3. n. Chiefly British A closed railroad car used for carrying baggage or freight.
4. v. To transport by van: vanned the horses to the racetrack.
5. v. To drive or travel in a van: vanned around the country.
6. n. The vanguard; the forefront.
7. n. A wing.
8. n. Archaic A winnowing device, such as a fan.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The small store in a logging-camp in which clothing, tobacco, and medicine are kept, to supply the crew.
2. n. A fan or other contrivance for winnowing grain.
3. n. [⟨ van, verb] In mining, a test of the value of an ore, made by washing (vanning) a small quantity, after powdering it, on the point of a shovel. Vanning is to a Cornish miner what washing in the horn spoon is to the Mexican. See van, verb, 2.
4. n. A vane, as of a feather; hence, a wing.
5. To winnow; fan.
6. In mining, to separate, as ore from veinstone, by washing it on the point of a shovel. See van, n., 2, and vanner.
7. n. The foremost division of an army on the march, or of a fleet when sailing; hence, by extension, the front of an army when in line of battle: opposed to rear.
8. n. The leaders of any movement in which many are engaged; the foremost individuals of any moving body; the front of any advancing body; the front generally: literally or figuratively.
9. n. Any large covered carriage; specifically, a large covered wagon used in moving furniture and household effects.
10. n. A kind of vehicle, sometimes covered and sometimes open, used by tradesmen and others for carrying light goods, etc.
11. n. A close carriage attached to a railway-train, for carrying passengers' luggage, for the accommodation of the guard, etc.
12. To carry or transport in a van.
13. A shortened form of avant-.

Wiktionary

1. n. A (covered) vehicle used for carrying goods or people, usually roughly cuboid in shape, longer and higher than a car but smaller than a truck.
2. n. a railway carriage
3. n. Shortened form of Xyzy}}.
4. n. Shortened form of Xyzy}}.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The front of an army; the first line or leading column; also, the front line or foremost division of a fleet, either in sailing or in battle.
2. n. A shovel used in cleansing ore.
3. v. To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.
4. n. A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
5. n. A large covered wagon for moving furniture, etc., also for conveying wild beasts, etc., for exhibition.
6. n. A closed railway car for baggage. See the Note under Car, 2.
7. n. A fan or other contrivance, as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
8. n. A wing with which the air is beaten.
9. v. To fan, or to cleanse by fanning; to winnow.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (Great Britain) a closed railroad car that carries baggage or freight
2. n. a truck with an enclosed cargo space
3. n. the leading units moving at the head of an army
4. n. a camper equipped with living quarters
5. n. any creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts)