Pans

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /pænz/

Definitions

1. A shallow round container used for frying or cooking food ; to give strong negative feedback or criticize harshly ; to move a camera slowly across a scene from side to side
2. A flat, shallow vessel for cooking meals on a stovetop ; to express severe disapproval or find fault with ; a filming technique where the camera sweeps horizontally to capture a wider view
3. A kitchen utensil designed for frying or sautéing ; to condemn or review something negatively ; the action of rotating a camera horizontally to follow action or show surroundings

Etymology: The noun "pan" is the older and more widely attested sense, and its origin is genuinely unsettled. Scholars have proposed a link to a Latin word for a shallow vessel, with the Latin "patina" (a dish or shallow bowl) as a candidate, but the sound changes that would connect it to the English form are awkward. Some researchers have also looked to a Germanic or Pre-Latin root, and the question remains open, so the story of the cooking vessel is not settled. The verb senses, to criticize harshly and to sweep a camera across a scene, are later developments built on the same noun. The camera sense, from the sweeping motion of a panning shot, is a twentieth-century extension of the idea of a pan as a swinging or sweeping movement.

Synonyms: dishes, containers