caravan

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car·a·van

(kăr′ə-văn′)

1. A company of travelers journeying together, as across a desert or through hostile territory.

2. A single file of vehicles or pack animals.

3. A large covered vehicle; a van.

4. Chiefly British A trailer or dwelling place on wheels.

[French caravane or Italian carovana, both from Persian kārvān.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

caravan

(ˈkærəˌvæn)

a. a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived in. US and Canadian name: trailer

b. (as modifier): a caravan site.

2. (esp in some parts of Asia and Africa) a company of traders or other travellers journeying together, often with a train of camels, through the desert

3. a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc, esp travelling in single file

4. a large covered vehicle, esp a gaily coloured one used by Romany Gypsies, circuses, etc

vb, -vans, -vanning or -vanned

(intr) Brit to travel or have a holiday in a caravan

[C16: from Italian caravana, from Persian kārwān]

ˈcaraˌvanning n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

car•a•van

(ˈkær əˌvæn)

n., v. -vaned -vanned, -van•ing -van•ning. n.

1. a group of travelers journeying together for safety, as through deserts, hostile territory, etc.

2. any group traveling in or as if in a caravan, as pack animals or vehicles.

3. a large covered vehicle conveying passengers, goods, etc.; van.

4. Chiefly Brit. house trailer.

v.t.

5. to carry in or as if in a caravan.

v.i.

6. to travel in or as if in a caravan.

[1590–1600; Italian carovana < Persian kārwān]

Caravan

a number of people travelling together; a moving company; a fleet of merchant ships. See also cafila, convoy.

Examples: caravan of camels, 1601; of merchants, 1602; of pilgrims; of merchant ships; of travellers, 1599; an aerie caravan [birds], 1667.

caravan

Past participle: caravanned
Gerund: caravanning

Imperative
caravan
caravan

Present
I caravan
you caravan
he/she/it caravans
we caravan
you caravan
they caravan

Preterite
I caravanned
you caravanned
he/she/it caravanned
we caravanned
you caravanned
they caravanned

Present Continuous
I am caravanning
you are caravanning
he/she/it is caravanning
we are caravanning
you are caravanning
they are caravanning

Present Perfect
I have caravanned
you have caravanned
he/she/it has caravanned
we have caravanned
you have caravanned
they have caravanned

Past Continuous
I was caravanning
you were caravanning
he/she/it was caravanning
we were caravanning
you were caravanning
they were caravanning

Past Perfect
I had caravanned
you had caravanned
he/she/it had caravanned
we had caravanned
you had caravanned
they had caravanned

Future
I will caravan
you will caravan
he/she/it will caravan
we will caravan
you will caravan
they will caravan

Future Perfect
I will have caravanned
you will have caravanned
he/she/it will have caravanned
we will have caravanned
you will have caravanned
they will have caravanned

Future Continuous
I will be caravanning
you will be caravanning
he/she/it will be caravanning
we will be caravanning
you will be caravanning
they will be caravanning

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been caravanning
you have been caravanning
he/she/it has been caravanning
we have been caravanning
you have been caravanning
they have been caravanning

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been caravanning
you will have been caravanning
he/she/it will have been caravanning
we will have been caravanning
you will have been caravanning
they will have been caravanning

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been caravanning
you had been caravanning
he/she/it had been caravanning
we had been caravanning
you had been caravanning
they had been caravanning

Conditional
I would caravan
you would caravan
he/she/it would caravan
we would caravan
you would caravan
they would caravan

Past Conditional
I would have caravanned
you would have caravanned
he/she/it would have caravanned
we would have caravanned
you would have caravanned
they would have caravanned

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

caravan

trailer

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	caravan - a procession (of wagons or mules or camels) traveling together in single file; "we were part of a caravan of almost a thousand camels"; "they joined the wagon train for safety" wagon train, train procession - the group action of a collection of people or animals or vehicles moving ahead in more or less regular formation; "processions were forbidden" Conestoga, Conestoga wagon, covered wagon, prairie schooner, prairie wagon - a large wagon with broad wheels and an arched canvas top; used by the United States pioneers to cross the prairies in the 19th century
	2.	caravan - a camper equipped with living quarters van camping bus, motor home, camper - a recreational vehicle equipped for camping out while traveling
Verb	1.	caravan - travel in a caravan go, locomote, move, travel - change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically; "How fast does your new car go?"; "We travelled from Rome to Naples by bus"; "The policemen went from door to door looking for the suspect"; "The soldiers moved towards the city in an attempt to take it before night fell"; "news travelled fast"

Translations

عَرَبَةٌ مُتَنَقِّلَةٌ مَجْرورَهقافلةقافِلَهمَقْطُورَة

karavankaravanamaringotkapřívěs

karavanecampingvognbeboelsesvogn

Karawane Wohnwagen Campingbus

τροχόσπιτο

karavano

caravana

asuntovaunukaravaanimatkailuvaunu

caravane camping-car roulotte

kamp kućicakaravankaravana

karaván

hjólhÿsivagnlest

roulotte carovana

トレーラーハウス

트레일러 하우스

karavanaspoilsinė ant ratųvilkstinė

autopiekabekaravānaore

camper caravan

campingvogn husvogn karavane

przyczepa kempingowa

caravana roulotte trailer

караван поезд фургон

karavána

karavanastanovanjska prikolica

husvagn

รถคาราวาน

karavan kervan

xe moóc caravan

商队旅游房车旅行用的大篷车

caravan

[ˈkærəvæn]

A. N

1. (Brit) (Aut) → remolque m, caravana f, tráiler m (LAm); (gipsies') → carromato m

2. (in desert) → caravana f

B. VI to go caravanning → ir de vacaciones en una caravana

C. CPD caravan site N → camping m para caravanas

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

caravan

[ˈkærəvæn] n (for holidays) → caravane fcaravan site n (British) → camping m pour caravanes

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

caravan

(Brit Aut) → Wohnwagen m, → Caravan m; caravan holiday → Ferien pl → im Wohnwagen

(= gipsy caravan) → Zigeunerwagen m

(= desert caravan) → Karawane f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

caravan

[ˈkærəˌvæn]

1. n

a. (gipsies') → carrozzone m (Brit) (Aut) → roulotte f inv

b. (in desert) → carovana

2. vi → viaggiare con la roulotte

caravan

(ˈkӕrəvӕn) noun

1. a vehicle on wheels for living in, now pulled by car etc, formerly by horse. a holiday caravan; a gypsy caravan.

2. a group of people travelling together for safety especially across a desert on camels. a caravan of merchants.

caravan

→ مَقْطُورَة karavan karavane Wohnwagen τροχόσπιτο caravana asuntovaunu caravane kamp kućica roulotte トレーラーハウス 트레일러 하우스 caravan campingvogn przyczepa kempingowa roulotte, trailer фургон husvagn รถคาราวาน karavan xe moóc caravan 旅游房车

References in classic literature ?

On the border of this common, and close to the hedge which divided it from the cultivated fields, a caravan was drawn up to rest; upon which, by reason of its situation, they came so suddenly that they could not have avoided it if they would.

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This odd sight kept me two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day fined me about the value of three shillings; and told me if it had been three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days' within, he must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon the next council-day.

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A FOGY who lived in a cave near a great caravan route returned to his home one day and saw, near by, a great concourse of men and animals, and in their midst a tower, at the foot of which something with wheels smoked and panted like an exhausted horse.

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We watered the caravan at the cold stream which rushes down a trough near the end of the village, and soon afterward left the haunts of civilization behind us.

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After a thousand scenes of pillage, of vexation, and attacks by armed forces, their caravan arrived, in October, at the vast oasis of Asben.

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In fact, for a couple of hours I met nothing worth mentioning, male or female, with the exception of a gipsy caravan, which I suppose was both; but it was a poor show.

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They even despoiled my brother of those that rightly belonged to him, and he, now as poor as he had ever been in his life, decided to cast in his lot with a caravan of pilgrims who were on their way to Mecca.

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For fifteen hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those who had fallen by the wayside.

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Travelling hard all night, we found ourselves next morning past the plain; but the road we were in was not more commodious, the points of the rocks pierced our feet; to increase our perplexities we were alarmed with the approach of an armed troop, which our fear immediately suggested to be the Galles, who chiefly beset these passes of the mountains; we put ourselves on the defensive, and expected them, whom, upon a more exact examination, we found to be only a caravan of merchants come as usual to fetch salt.

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I received several letters from him after I returned to America--in fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop me word of some sort.

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The gleaming metal and jewels of the gorgeous ornaments of the men and women, duplicated in the trappings of the zitidars and thoats, and interspersed with the flashing colors of magnificent silks and furs and feathers, lent a barbaric splendor to the caravan which would have turned an East Indian potentate green with envy.

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Swinging back through the jungle in a wide circle the ape-man came to the river at another point, drank and took to the trees again and while he hunted, all oblivious of his past and careless of his future, there came through the dark jungles and the open, parklike places and across the wide meadows, where grazed the countless herbivora of the mysterious continent, a weird and terrible caravan in search of him.