(vān) noun
1. A thin plate, pivoted out of center, on a vertical rod, to indicate the direction of the wind; a weathercock: also wind vane.
2. A slender flag or streamer used for the same purpose.
3. An arm or blade, as of a windmill, propeller, projectile, etc.
4. Ornithol. The web of a feather.
5. The target on a leveling rod.
6. The sight on a quadrant, compass, or similar instrument, by which the direction of the object viewed is determined.
7. One of the plates or strips of metal fixed in the tail of a bomb, guided missile, or the like, to provide stability or guidance.
8. Obs. A flag; pennon. ♦ Homophones: vain, vein. [Dial. var. of fane a small flag, OE fana a flag]
—vaned adjective
WINDMILL VANES

(vān), Sir Henry,
1613–62, English Puritan statesman; executed on charge of treason.