[f. VAN v.1]
† 1. The action of winnowing with a fan. Obs.
1552. Huloet, Vannyng, uannatio.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 607. The winnowing, vanning, and laying up either of corne or pulse.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 671. The Corne which in the Vanning lieth lowest, is the best.
† b. The action of tossing in a winnowing-fan.
1606. Holland, Sueton., Annot. 36. Sagatio,… that pastime with us in some place called the canvasing, and else where, the vanning of dogs.
2. The action or process of separating ore on a shovel. Also attrib., as vanning-action, shovel.
1671. Phil. Trans., VI. 2098. Vanning … is performed by pulverising the stone, or clay, or what else may be suspected to contain any mineral body, and placing it on a Vanning shovel. Ibid. (1766), LVI. 38. I employed a tinner dextrous in vanning (a way of breaking and trying ores, by washing them on a shovel gently with water) to try it in his usual way.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 223. This must be repeated, till it is cleansed from the rough gravelly parts, which may be known by vanning of it on a shovel.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., xv. 585. Great dexterity is exhibited by the tinners in the operation termed vanning.
1875. J. H. Collins, Met. Mining, 11. The same principle is at the bottom of the beautiful art of ‘vanning.’
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 920/1. The object throughout is … to imitate the vanning action of the miner’s shovel.
