Pan (redirected from going down the pan)

Pan, in Greek religion and mythology

Pan (păn), in Greek religion and mythology, pastoral god of fertility. He was worshiped principally in Arcadia, and one legend states that he was the son of Hermes, another Arcadian god. Pan was supposed to make flocks fertile; when he did not, his image was flogged to stimulate him. He was depicted as a merry, ugly man with the horns, ears, and legs of a goat. Occasionally ill-tempered, he loved to frighten unwary travelers (hence the word panic). All his myths deal with amorous affairs. In a famous tale he pursued the nymph Syrinx, but before she was overtaken her sister nymphs changed her into a reed. Thus Pan plays the reed, or syrinx, in memory of her. Later, when Pan was worshiped in other parts of Greece and in Rome, he became associated with the Greek Dionysus and identified with the Roman Faunus, both gods of fertility.

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Pan, in astronomy

Pan, in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn XVIII (or S18), Pan is 12.5 mi (20 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 83,000 mi (133,583 km), and has an orbital period of 0.575 earth days. The rotational period is unknown but is assumed to be the same as the orbital period. It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter at the Ames Research Center in California in 1990 while reviewing photographs taken by Voyager 1 during its flyby of Saturn in 1980. The innermost of Saturn's confirmed moons, Pan's orbit is within the Encke Division, or Encke Gap, of Saturn's A ring, where it functions as a shepherd satellite (a moon that limits the extent of a planetary ring through gravitational forces), keeping the gap open.

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Pan

Greek fertility deity with a half-human, half-animal form. The Romans associated him with Faunus. Pan was usually said to be the son of Hermes. He was often represented as a vigorous and lustful figure with the horns, legs, and ears of a goat; in later art his human parts were more emphasized. Some Christian depictions of the Devil bear a striking resemblance to Pan. Pan haunted the high hills, where he was chiefly concerned with flocks and herds. Like a shepherd, Pan was a piper, and he rested at noon. He could inspire irrational terror in humans, and the word panic comes from his name.

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pan

(1) To move a video or film camera horizontally across a scene. A horizontal scroll bar on an application window provides the same type of movement. See pan & scan and PTZ.

(2) (PAN) See processor area network and personal area network.

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pan¹

1. either of the two dishlike receptacles on a balance

2. 

a. a natural or artificial depression in the ground where salt can be obtained by the evaporation of brine

b. a natural depression containing water or mud

3. Caribbean the indented top from an oil drum used as the treble drum in a steel band

4. See hardpan brainpan

5. a small ice floe

6. a hard substratum of soil

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pan²

1. the leaf of the betel tree

2. a preparation of this leaf which is chewed, together with betel nuts and lime, in India and the East Indies

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pan [pan]

(communications)

To tilt or otherwise move a television or movie camera vertically and horizontally to keep it trained on a moving object or to secure a panoramic effect.

(geology)

A shallow, natural depression or basin containing a body of standing water.

A hard, cementlike layer, crust, or horizon of soil within or just beneath the surface; may be compacted, indurated, or very high in clay content.

(mining engineering)

A shallow, circular, concave steel or porcelain dish in which drillers or samplers wash the drill sludge to gravity-separate the particles of heavy, dense minerals from the lighter rock powder as a quick visual means of ascertaining if the rocks traversed by the borehole contain minerals of value.

The act or process of performing the above operation.

(oceanography)

pancake ice

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pan

1. A wall plate.

2. A part of an exterior wall; esp. in half-timbered construction, the wall spaces between the timbers.

3. A major vertical division in a wall.

4. A structural panel.

5. A form, frequently of molded fiberglass, used in pouring concrete floors or roofs.

6. The recessed bed for the leaf of a hinge.

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Pan

man-goat of bawdy and lecherous ways. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 798]

See : Lust

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Pan

in Greek mythology, the god of forests and fields, the patron of shepherds and hunters. Myths portray Pan as a merry god who roamed the mountains and forests in the company of nymphs, dancing and playing a pipe. The ancient Greeks pictured him as ugly and covered with hair, with the feet, beard, and tail of a goat. He inspired terror, hence the word “panic.”