Definition of "caravan"
caravan
noun
plural caravans
A convoy or procession of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and any pack animals, especially camels crossing a desert.
Quotations
“Would they could have foretold that my caravan would have been cut up by the Shinwaris almost within shadow of the Pass!” grunted the Eusufzai agent of a Rajputana trading-house whose goods had been feloniously diverted into the hands of other robbers just across the Border, and whose misfortunes were the laughing-stock of the bazar. “Ohé, priest, whence come you and whither do you go?”
1888, Rudyard Kipling, The Man Who Would Be King
(Australia, Britain, New Zealand, South Africa) A furnished vehicle towed behind a car, etc., and used as a dwelling when stationary.
Quotations
An Italian woman, twenty years of age, […] was travelling in a caravan with the baggage of the Duke of Wellington's army, in the middle of the night, in a violent storm, while she was fast asleep, a small monkey with a long chain upon the roof of the caravan took refuge in it (...)
1825, Royal Society, Philosophical transactions of the Royal society of London : giving some accompt of the present undertakings, studies, and labours of the ingenious in many considerable parts of the world. VOL115, page 76
The caravans were the demarcation between the non-radioactive areas and the radioactive areas. There were two main caravans, one for people going into the forward area, and the other caravan was for people returning.
2006, Roger Cross, Avon Hudson, Beyond Belief: The British Bomb Tests: Australia's Veterans Speak Out, page 92
The best thing about caravans is that they're always exactly the same, said Terence Butcher. You can tow your caravan to Brighton or Bournemouth or Bognor. Doesn′t make the blindest bit of difference. When you close the door behind you at the end of the day you′re home.
2009, Chris Cleave, Incendiary, unnumbered page
verb
third-person singular simple present caravans, present participle caravaning or caravanning, simple past and past participle caravaned or caravanned
To travel in a caravan (procession).
Quotations
The provisions of the Vehicle Code covering caravaning of vehicles have been clarified to expedite this type of operation and still result in the proper observance of the objectives of that law.
1957, California State Assembly, Journal of the Assembly, Legislature of the State of California, volume 1, page 92
Observations of caravaning were made on the domesticated musk shrew (Suncus murinus) with particular reference to its developmental aspects.
1984, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, Information Retrieval Limited, Animal Behaviour Abstracts, Volume 12, page 73
(UK, Australia) To travel and/or live in a caravan (vehicle).
Quotations
It has to be remembered that, however enchanting the idea of caravanning may be, it is unlikely that it will consist entirely of watching sunsets and other people working — two of the most fascinating sights I know — but there are, regrettably enough, other and less romantic elements.
1932, Walter Meade, Caravanning, Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin, The Cecil Aldin Book, page 55