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Glite Dictionary
to pan off

to pan off

9.5
To wash sand or gravel in a shallow dish to find small pieces of gold
  • phrasal verb
  • Specialized
translation icon : lavar en un cernidor
  • The prospectors would often pan off the riverbed to search for gold nuggets.

Examples

  • They pan off the dirt to find gold.

  • Don't forget to pan off the gravel carefully!

  • After several hours, she managed to pan off enough dust to find a few tiny gems.

  • He spent the day panning off the silt, hoping to uncover something valuable.

  • The miners worked tirelessly, hoping to pan off the sediment and discover some gold flakes.

  • Every summer, John would pan off at the river, searching for shiny treasures hidden in the gravel.

  • To find precious jewels, you must pan off the dirt thoroughly and sift through the stones.

Synonyms

to pan
vsto pan off
  • Specialized
3 7.7

To wash sand or gravel in a shallow dish to find gold

is the same process but emphasises gold more than other minerals
to pan out
vsto pan off
  • Specialized
8.5

To wash small stones in a pan to find pieces of gold

focuses especially on gold rather than all precious minerals

Surface Forms

pan off infinitive
panned off past
panned off past participle
panning off present participle
pans off third person singular

Morphology

pan + off

The verb 'pan' already denotes washing earth in a pan to find gold, and the particle 'off' contributes a literal sense of removing or separating. Combined, the meaning 'to wash earth in a pan to separate out minerals' is directly derivable from the constituents, so a learner who knows both words would understand the phrase.

Etymology

Pan off comes from gold panning. Miners put dirt into a shallow pan and moved it in water so the light sand ran off while the heavy gold stayed in the pan. So, pan off came to mean 'to wash earth or gravel to find small valuable bits like gold'.