to pan
- verb
- /pæn/
- Specialized
- He could pan for gold, he could scout for the Army or for wagon trains, and he even knew a little about farming, although he kept that to himself.
- pan for gold
Examples
-
He is too sick to pan for gold.
Fiction book (1998) -
During our trip to the mountains, we decided to pan for gold in the local creek.
-
We're gonna pan for gold.
-
Well, I could pan for gold or something.
-
A place for parents to pan for gold, and bond with their children.
-
I rode all the way out here to pan for gold and my horse up and died on me.
-
Doug walked back to the central square, past running water where visitors could pan for gold.
Fiction book (1994) -
Amid hundreds of costumed participants, visit a tent city and working blacksmiths, take in a melodrama at The Eagle Theatre, and encourage the kids to pan for gold.
Blog text (3) -
You can pan for gold in the river to see if you can find any valuable nuggets.
-
Many people still pan for gold as a hobby, hoping to strike it rich.
Idioms
- Informal
A person or thing that has a short time of success and then people forget them
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
An area in New York where many popular songwriters and music publishers worked in the early 1900s
A flat collar with rounded ends that meet at the front and appears on women's and children's clothing
- Specialized
A large ape like a chimpanzee that lives in forests of the Congo Basin, often called the bonobo
- Specialized
A large wild ape that lives in African forests and uses simple tools
- Specialized
A kind of chimpanzee that lives in east-central Africa and has long hair
- Specialized
A type of chimpanzee from central Africa with a black face
- Specialized
A western African chimpanzee with a pale face that is endangered
- Formal
An organization that helped countries in the Americas work together before the Organization of American States
- Archaic
A long metal pan with a handle and lid filled with hot coals to warm a bed before sleeping
How Thoroughly
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Archaic
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pan (to search for gold) comes straight from the kitchen pan — miners used a shallow dish to wash gravel and find gold. So to pan for gold is simply to wash material in a pan to separate valuable bits.