pan

A metal container, usually with a long handle, used to cook food.

• Put the water in a pan.
• She heated the soup in a small pan.
• Have you washed the pans yet?

Similar words: saucepan, pot

Common phrases: a large pan, pan of water, heat a pan, pan lid

A wide, shallow container, often round, with sides that slope outward.

• Heat some oil in a pan.
• The eggs stuck to the frying pan.
• He washed the sand in a shallow pan to find gold.

Common phrases: frying pan, a shallow pan, a round pan, gold pan

The amount of food or liquid held in one cooking container.

• We ate a whole pan of pasta.
• A pan of soup should feed six people.
• He boiled two pans of water for the bath.

How to use it: a pan of something (We cooked a pan of rice for everyone.)

Similar words: panful

Common phrases: pan of soup, pan of rice, a whole pan, pan of pasta

A small part of an old gun that holds the powder first set on fire.

• He put powder in the pan.
• A spark lit the powder in the gun's pan.
• The musket would not fire because its pan was wet.

Similar words: priming pan

Common phrases: priming pan, flintlock pan, powder pan

To turn a camera from side to side while filming, or move a view sideways.

• Pan the camera slowly.
• The shot panned left to show the road.
• Can you pan across the whole room?

How to use it: pan across something (The camera panned across the crowd.); pan to someone/something (The camera panned to the doorway.)

Common phrases: pan the camera, pan across something, pan to someone, pan left

To join pieces or press something into its proper place.

• Pan the piece down firmly.
• The worker panned the two parts together.
• These pieces must pan neatly into the frame.

Similar words: fit, join, unite

Opposites: separate

Common phrases: pan something down, pan together, pan the pieces