n. [ OE. & Prov. E. fane weathercock, banner, AS. fana a banner, flag; akin to D. vaan, G. fahne, OHG. fano cloth, gund fano flag, Icel. fāni, Sw. fana, Dan. fane, Goth. fana cloth, L. pannus, and perhaps to Gr. ph^nos a web, phni`on a bobbin, spool. Cf. Fanon, Pane a compartment, panel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

1. A contrivance attached to some elevated object for the purpose of showing which way the wind blows; a weathercock. It is usually a plate or strip of metal, or slip of wood, often cut into some fanciful form, and placed upon a perpendicular axis around which it moves freely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Aye undiscreet, and changing as a vane. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any flat, extended surface attached to an axis and moved by the wind; as, the vane of a windmill; hence, a similar fixture of any form moved in or by water, air, or other fluid; as, the vane of a screw propeller, a fan blower, an anemometer, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The rhachis and web of a feather taken together. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One of the sights of a compass, quadrant, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vane of a leveling staff. (Surv.) Same as Target, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Probably from Swift's poem of Cadenus and Vanessa. See Vanessa, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction. ] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to Vanessa and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A vanessa. [ 1913 Webster ]