pan 1 
(păn)
(păn)n.
1. A shallow, wide, open container, usually of metal and without a lid, used for holding liquids, cooking, and other domestic purposes.
2. A vessel similar in form to a pan, especially:
a. An open metal dish used to separate gold, other precious metals, or gemstones from gravel or waste by washing.
b. Either of the receptacles on a balance or pair of scales.
c. A vessel used for boiling and evaporating liquids.
3.
a. A basin or depression in the earth, often containing mud or water.
b. A natural or artificial basin used to obtain salt by evaporating brine.
c. Hardpan.
4. A freely floating piece of ice that has broken off a larger floe.
5. The small cavity in the lock of a flintlock used to hold powder.
6. Music A steel drum.
7. Slang The face.
8. Informal Severe criticism, especially a negative review: gave the film a pan.
v. panned, pan·ning, pans
v.tr.
1. To wash (gravel, for example) in a pan to separate out gold, other precious metals, or gemstones.
2. To cook (food) in a pan: panned the fish right after catching it.
3. Informal To criticize or review harshly.
v.intr.
Phrasal Verb: 1. To wash gravel, sand, or other sediment in a pan.
2. To yield gold as a result of washing in a pan.
pan out
To turn out well; be successful: "If I don't pan out as an actor I can still go back to school" (Saul Bellow).
[Middle English, from Old English panne, from West Germanic *panna, probably from Vulgar Latin *patna, from Latin patina, shallow pan, platter, from Greek patanē; see petə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]