Definition of pan

• n. - A part; a portion.
• n. - The distance comprised between the angle of the epaule and the flanked angle.
• n. - A leaf of gold or silver.
• v. t. & i. - To join or fit together; to unite.
• n. - The betel leaf; also, the masticatory made of the betel leaf, etc. See /etel.
• n. - The god of shepherds, guardian of bees, and patron of fishing and hunting. He is usually represented as having the head and trunk of a man, with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat, and as playing on the shepherd's pipe, which he is said to have invented.
• n. - A shallow, open dish or vessel, usually of metal, employed for many domestic uses, as for setting milk for cream, for frying or baking food, etc.; also employed for various uses in manufacturing.
• n. - A closed vessel for boiling or evaporating. See Vacuum pan, under Vacuum.
• n. - The part of a flintlock which holds the priming.
• n. - The skull, considered as a vessel containing the brain; the upper part of the head; the brainpan; the cranium.
• n. - A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.
• n. - The hard stratum of earth that lies below the soil. See Hard pan, under Hard.
• n. - A natural basin, containing salt or fresh water, or mud.
• v. t. - To separate, as gold, from dirt or sand, by washing in a kind of pan.
• v. i. - To yield gold in, or as in, the process of panning; -- usually with out; as, the gravel panned out richly.
• v. i. - To turn out (profitably or unprofitably); to result; to develop; as, the investigation, or the speculation, panned out poorly.