refan

See also: refán

English

Etymology

From re- +‎ fan.

Verb

refan (third-person singular simple present refans, present participle refanning, simple past and past participle refanned)

1. To fan again:
   1. To spread again.
      • 1910, William Scott, Poems, page 22:

        You flashing star that shines so bright In the pale moon's pallor light, A sullen hope erstwhile now springs, And the lost soul refans its wings; It mounts, falls further down in scorn, A victim for thee, O brother worm.

   2. To cause air to blow on again.
      • 1872, William Morrison Bell, Other Countries - Volume 2, page 11:

        The heat was great, and the nights were passed in fanning oneself to sleep, awaking, and refanning to sleep again.

      • 1895, Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, The Climates and Baths of Great Britain:

        The common is breezy ; the air cannot stagnate, and is nowhere obstructed, but, as described by Dr. Linden, " fans and refans from corner to corner, from any point whatsoever it may happen to blow."

      • 1932, Ohio. Dept. of Agriculture. Division of Conservation. Bureau of Scientific Research, Bulletin - Volume 1, Issues 4-8, page 15:

        After he has swept the sediment from the stones he proceeds to clean up the nest by nosing the smaller particles off to one side, sometimes even picking up pebbles in his mouth and carrying them away, after which he refans the stones until they have a polished appearance.

   3. (figurative) To revive or reinvigorate.
      • 1881, How Mephisto was Caught: A Chess Legend, page 331:

        When gaining a victory, visions of further successes buoyed me up and refanned my sinking courage ; a well-contested but lost game caused me to apply myself to renewed study, and so engaged I often passed the midnight hours in solitude over the chess-board.

   4. To winnow again.
      • 1916, The Rice Journal ... - Volume 19, Issues 3-12, page 35:

        I know that I am dilating upon a subject that I have already made mention of, but it cannot be too forcibly brought to the attention of planters that the selection of Mother Seed of the very best quality is of vital importance and that no rice ought to be planted that has not gone through a screening and refanning process so as to eliminate the light, chaffy, chalky and imperfect grains, all of which reproduce themselves in a plant that is weak and sickly and tends to deterioration.

2. To retrofit an airplane engine with a turbofan that reduces noise.
   • 1998, Robert V. Garvin, Starting Something Big: The Commercial Emergence of GE Aircraft Engines, →ISBN:

     A new engine would have to be markedly superior not only to the JT8D but also to a JT8D or Rolls-Royce Spey refanned to a higher bypass ration.

   • 1973, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1974:

     Senator Goldwater, in reducing the funding in the program, we looked very hard at the benefits that would accrue to refanning the JT8D as compared with the JT3D.

   • 1975, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Aviation and Transportation R. & D, Aircraft Noise Abatement:

     In our July, 1974, statement, we presented preliminary test results on the effect on sea level fuel consumption of refanning an experimental engine.

   • 1975, Further Studies of Methods for Reducing Community Noise Around Airports:

     The results of refanning new JT8D aircraft in combination with other noise reduction options are shown in figures lz and l3 for 1981.

Noun

refan (plural refans)

1. An airplane engine that has been refanned.
   • 1975, United States. Office of Noise Abatement and Control, First Report on Status and Progress of Noise Research and Control Programs in the Federal Government, page 181:

     In considering the relative merits of SAM versus refan in our rule-making efforts, we have considered the following factors as being of primary significance.

   • 1975, The Aeronautical Journal - Volume 79, page 545:

     The refans have lower acquisition and maintenance costs, which favourably trade off against their higher fuel consumption to produce economical operation, particularly at shorter ranges.

   • 2018, Jeremy R. Kinney, The Power for Flight: NASA's Contributions to Aircraft Propulsion, →ISBN:

     The manufacturer installed three JT8D-115 refans, developed by Pratt & Whitney under contract to NASA, on a 727 for flight tests at Boeing's Boardman, OR, airfield.

Anagrams

• Fearn, frena

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [rəˈfan]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [reˈfan]

Verb

refan

1. third-person plural present indicative of refer