Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - pan

~1 n 1 »FOR COOKING« a round metal container used for cooking usually, with one long handle and a lid; saucepan  (Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water.) 2 »FOR BAKING CAKES ETC« AmE a metal container for baking things in; tin BrE  (a 9" cake pan) 3 »FOR WEIGHING« one of the two dishes on a pair of scales (=a small weighing machine) 4 »TOILET« especially BrE the bowl of a toilet 5 »DRUM« a metal drum that is played in a steel band 6 »FOR FINDING GOLD« AmE a container used to separate gold from other substances, by washing them in water 7 go down the pan BrE slang to be wasted or become useless or ruined  (- see also frying pan, skidpan, warming pan, a flash in the pan flash2 (8)) ~2 v panned, panning 1 »CRITICIZE« informal to strongly criticize a film, play etc in a newspaper or on television or radio  (a production that was panned by the critics) 2 »CAMERA« a) if a film or television camera pans in a particular direction, it moves and follows the thing that is being filmed  (The camera panned slowly across the crowd.) b) to move a camera in this way 3 »GOLD« a) to wash soil in a pan to separate gold from it + for  (panning for gold) b) also pan out, pan off to get or separate gold in this way pan out phr v to happen or develop in a particular way  (I wonder how it will all pan out.)