DCHP-1 Online

pan ((v.))

• 1a † v. Placer Mining separate gold from gravel or pulverized rock by washing the gravel in a pan (def. 3).

  See also: panning  pan out (def. 1)  

  • 1870  The only mining done was by Sylvester and Black, who had panned and rocked about $40 from the edge of the Discovery ground.
  • 1910  (1921)  Little Joe . . . panning the powder in the fry pan, showed St. John a fairy-like thread of gold lying along the edge of the white grit.
  • 1960  They had panned one or two colors and they wanted to get down to bedrock to see if she would pay, so they set to sinking a shaft.
  • 1963  A few flakes of gold panned from Bonanza Creek in Klondike Valley, Aug. 17, 1896. . . .

• 1b † v. Placer Mining search for gold in this way.

  • 1937  Between intervals I did some prospecting in the cut, panning along the face. . . .
  • 1957  The man looked like a sourdough and was panning for gold among the gravels of Bonanza Creek whose rich finds in 1896 set off the Yukon gold rush.
  • 1959  She was very intelligent, watching him closely while he panned a stream, with her sharp, beady eyes, occasionally shooting out her big paw when she saw him digging in the gravel.
  • 1965  . . . McNeeley found a quartz stringer, which, when panned, showed a small tail of gold.

• 1c † v. Placer Mining mine (gold) in this way.

  • 1948  He only asked where it was and said he came from Peace River town on his way to Buffalo Creek to pan gold.
  • 1957  He had been panning gold on the Fraser bars for many months, and now he had made his stake.

• 2 v. Sealing, Nfld kill and stack in pans (def. 2).

  See also: pan ((n.)) (def. 2)  panned  

  • 1916  . . . all day long they killed and sculped and towed and panned the fat--all smothered in blood.
  • 1933  They reached the far-off . . . [sealing ice] and started panning. . . .
  • 1960  (1965)  The Neptune, ruler of the Sea, she rides in court today,
    Filled up with white-coats to the hatch and her colors flying gay.
    They killed and panned a heavy load with flags on every pan,
    While bats did rattle on their heads, the murder then began.