A covered motor vehicle used to carry goods or (normally less than ten) persons, usually roughly cuboid in shape, Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and longer and higher than a car but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry or a bus.
While Santa Monica has a longstanding prohibition against public camping that includes living in vehicles, the van rental business has been a problem in Venice for years. […] Organizations that provide safe parking locations have limited capacity and are often unable to accommodate the kind of non-operational vans that are being repurposed as makeshift housing.2023 May 19, Matthew Hall, “Los Angeles Councilwoman targets “vanlord” industry”, in Santa Monica Daily Press:
Carbon emissions from vans in the UK have risen by 63% since 1990, new analysis shows, as cars are getting cleaner. While more people are opting to drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars, van drivers still prefer diesel because electric vans are much more expensive with little choice of models.2024 June 22, James Tapper, “Carbon emissions from vans still rising as UK drivers cling to diesel”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2
UK An enclosed railway vehicle for transport of goods, such as a boxcar/box van.
3
Dated A light wagon, either covered or open, used by tradesmen and others for the transportation of goods.
4
Aerospace, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A large towable vehicle equipped for the repair of structures that cannot easily be moved.
Designed to be fully mobile and self-contained, the complete equipment includes an air-conditioned van containing all necessary electronic gear and a flat bed trailer in which missiles, jet engines and other large assemblies may be cleaned.1959, Western Aerospace, volume 39, page 46:
To transport in a van or similar vehicle (especially of horses).
I have to have a license to own them, a license to train them, my jockey has to have a license to ride them, the van company must have a license to van them, and the black shoe man must have a license to shoe them.1966, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
[They] had their own horses, but they hadn't bothered to van them over to Pine Hollow for this outing.1999, Bonnie Bryant, Changing Leads, page 53:
2
Internet, Used in passive voice Of law enforcement: to arrest (not necessarily in a van; derived from party van).
One Anon explained the reason for this, saying: "As for the domains, they were transferred to Ryan after some of us got vanned so he can keep the network up. What he did certainly wasn't the plan." (Getting "vanned" refers to getting picked up by the police.)2011, The hackers hacked: main Anonymous IRC servers invaded:
He later told CW that he had been "v&" or "vanned" by the police, and he expressed surprise that the police showed him detailed transcripts of his conversations.2012, FBI names, arrests Anon who infiltrated its secret conference call:
4 more examples
But not before someone supposedly forwarded all the information onto the FBI. In a last-ditch effort to avoid getting "vanned," Naratto tried to put the memie back in the bottle2013, Redditor Confesses to Murder with Meme, Gets Doxed by Other Redditors, Deletes His Account and Disappears:
2015 13-year-old credited with hacking CIA director’s AOL account gives bizarre, possibly final interview The hacker says he thinks he is about to be v&, or “vanned,” meaning being raided by law enforcement, sometime soon.
On Wednesday night, Motherboard spoke to the teenager accused of being Cracka. "I got fucking v&," he told Motherboard, using "v&," the slang for "vanned," or getting arrested. (At this point, the arrest had not been made public.)2016, Teen Allegedly Behind CIA, FBI Breaches: 'They're Trying to Ruin My Life.':
Commander X: Yep, so now you all know how I got vanned. And you just met the snitch who did it to me.2017, Dark Ops: An Anonymous Story, page 8:
Etymology From Latin vannus (“a van, or fan for winnowing grain”): compare French van and English fan, winnow. Doublet of fan.
1
A fan or other contrivance, such as a sieve, for winnowing grain.
with strange amaze / A shepherd meeting thee, the oar surveys, / And names a van (Book XI)1726, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, The Odyssey:
2
A wing with which the air is beaten.
So Satan fell; and ſtrait a fiery Globe / Of Angels on full ſail of wing flew nigh, / Who on their plumy Vans receiv'd him ſoft […]1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 108–109, lines 578–580:
He wheeled in air, and stretched his vans in vain; / His vans no longer could his flight sustain.1717, John Dryden, Ovid's Metamorphoses, book XII:
1 more example
Because these wings are no longer wings to fly / But merely vans to beat the air[…]1930, T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday: