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VAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 878 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VAN , an homonymous word, whose different meanings have no etymological connexion. In the most See also:

common sense " van " is merely an See also:abbreviation of the See also:Oriental word " See also:caravan " (q.v.), and is applied to any large covered See also:cart or vehicle used for the See also:conveyance of goods, especially See also:furniture, or, on See also:railways, to a closed See also:carriage for passengers' luggage, or for the See also:accommodation of the guard. In the sense of the front portion of an See also:army or See also:fleet, or the advanced portion of any See also:body, actually or metaphorically, " van " represents the See also:French avant (See also:Lat. ab ante), in front, as in avant-garde, van-guard, the earliest See also:form in which the word came into See also:English. Lastly, the word is used as a variant of " See also:fan " (Lat. vannus) , for a contrivance for winnowing See also:grain, for a See also:bird's wing, and in See also:mining to an appliance for separating ore by washing.

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