van

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

• noun An enclosed boxlike motor vehicle having rear or side doors and side panels especially for transporting people.
• noun A covered or enclosed truck or wagon often used for transporting goods or livestock.
• noun Chiefly British A closed railroad car used for carrying baggage or freight.
• intransitive verb To transport by van.
• intransitive verb To drive or travel in a van.
• noun A wing.
• noun A winnowing device, such as a fan.
• noun The vanguard; the forefront.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The small store in a logging-camp in which clothing, tobacco, and medicine are kept, to supply the crew.
• To winnow; fan.
• In mining, to separate, as ore from veinstone, by washing it on the point of a shovel. See van, n., 2, and vanner.
• noun A fan or other contrivance for winnowing grain.
• noun [⟨ 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.
• noun A vane, as of a feather; hence, a wing.
• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• To carry or transport in a van.
• A shortened form of avant-.
• noun Any large covered carriage; specifically, a large covered wagon used in moving furniture and household effects.
• noun A kind of vehicle, sometimes covered and sometimes open, used by tradesmen and others for carrying light goods, etc.
• noun A close carriage attached to a railway-train, for carrying passengers' luggage, for the accommodation of the guard, etc.

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

• noun engraving A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
• noun A large covered wagon for moving furniture, etc., also for conveying wild beasts, etc., for exhibition.
• noun engraving A closed railway car for baggage. See the Note under Car, 2.
• transitive verb (Mining) To wash or cleanse, as a small portion of ore, on a shovel.
• noun A fan or other contrivance, as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
• noun Archaic A wing with which the air is beaten.
• transitive verb obsolete To fan, or to cleanse by fanning; to winnow.
• noun 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.
• noun (Mining) A shovel used in cleansing ore.

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

• noun 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
• noun UK a railway carriage
• noun shortened form of vanguard
• noun shortened form of caravan
• verb transitive To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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