Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of the levels of proficiency at the grade of black belt in martial arts such as judo and karate.
  • noun One who has achieved such a level.
  • noun An expert or expert level in shogi and certain other games.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Nautical, a small buoy having a pole on which is displayed by day a flag and by night a lantern.
  • noun An abbreviation of Danish.
  • noun In mining: A small box for carrying coal or attle in a mine.
  • noun In the midland counties of England, a tub or barrel in which water is carried to the pump or raised to the surface. It may or may not be mounted on wheels.
  • noun A title of honor equivalent to master, don, or sir, formerly common, now only archaic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir.
  • noun (Mining) A small truck or sledge used in coal mines.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A rank of black belt in martial arts
  • noun Someone who has achieved a level of black belt
  • noun mining A small truck or sledge used in coal mines.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Japanese dan, stair, grade, dan, from Early Middle Chinese duanh, section; also the source of Mandarin duàn.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Japanese  (dan)

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Uncertain.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Red Hot Dan" by Fats Waller.

    February 10, 2008

  • "A marker buoy which consists of a long pole moored to the seabed and fitted to float vertically, usually with a coded flag at the top." Wikipedia

    October 6, 2009

  • Jamaican slang for 'than'.

    November 6, 2010