van
/væn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.78 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.
noun
A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
Dated
verb
Of law enforcement: to arrest (not necessarily in a van; derived from party van).
Example Sentences
- "While Santa Monica has a longstanding prohibition against public camping that includes living in vehicles, the van rental business has been a problem in Venice for years. […] Organizations that provide safe parking locations have limited capacity and are often unable to accommodate the kind of non-operational vans that are being repurposed as makeshift housing."
- "Carbon emissions from vans in the UK have risen by 63% since 1990, new analysis shows, as cars are getting cleaner. While more people are opting to drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars, van drivers still prefer diesel because electric vans are much more expensive with little choice of models."
- "Designed to be fully mobile and self-contained, the complete equipment includes an air-conditioned van containing all necessary electronic gear and a flat bed trailer in which missiles, jet engines and other large assemblies may be cleaned."
- "I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them."
- "[They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing."
- "One Anon explained the reason for this, saying: "As for the domains, they were transferred to Ryan after some of us got vanned so he can keep the network up. What he did certainly wasn't the plan." (Getting "vanned" refers to getting picked up by the police.)"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, Van, وان, Վան
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /væn/
- British English: /væn/
Usage
- British usage
- Dated
- Transitive verb