fanning

/ˈfænɪŋ/

fanning is the present participle and gerund of fan.

Noun

fanning (plural fannings)

The act by which something is fanned.
- Each shrub of shade, each tree of spreading root, / That woo the first glad fannings of the breeze.1764, James Grainger, The Sugar Cane
1. Winnowing.
2. A shooting technique in which the shooter uses one hand to hold a revolver and pull the trigger, while using the other hand to cock the hammer repeatedly in a slapping-like fashion.
A very small fragment of tea leaf.
- Generally orthodox teas have four grades, namely whole leaf, broken leaf, fannings and dust.2013, Victor R. Preedy, Tea in Health and Disease Prevention
(UK, archaic, slang) A beating.
- […] he found himself facing these four grim coves, big as bull-beef, demanders by trade and ready to give him a fanning, which they did, advising him to keep out of the Professor's way in future and never to speak with any from Idle Jack's family again. Within fifteen minutes, Carmichael had three...2013, John Gardner, Moriarty

fan (third-person singular simple present fans, present participle fanning, simple past and past participle fanned)

(transitive) To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise.
- We enjoyed standing at the edge of the cliff, being fanned by the wind.
(transitive) To slap (a behind, especially).
- Part of it was that as much as I respected filial devotion and as much as I liked Sarah Barstow, it would have been a real satisfaction to put her across my knees and pull up her skirts and giver^([sic]) her a swell fanning, for not taking a look at that driver.1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 148
(intransitive, usually to fan out) To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan.
(transitive) To dispel by waving a hand-held fan.
- I attempted to fan the disagreeable odour out of the room.
(transitive) To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun.
- To fan a single action revolver, hold down the trigger and strike the hammer repeatedly with a free hand.2011, Hans-Christoan Vortisch, GURPS Tactical Shooting, page 14
(figuratively) To invigorate, like flames when fanned.
- She comes, to fan my ardour, She kills me with her kisses.1923, Arthur Symons, Love's Cruelty, page 43

Fanning (plural Fannings)

What does fanning mean?: Fanning means the act by which something is fanned.
What is fanning the present participle and gerund of?: Fanning is the present participle and gerund of fan.
What part of speech is fanning?: Fanning can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce fanning?: Fanning is pronounced /ˈfænɪŋ/.
What is the plural of fanning?: The plural of fanning is fannings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: fanning (page history and authors); Fanning (page history and authors); fan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-fanning.wav.

Cite this entry: “fanning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fanning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.