Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
FAN. This was probably a broad shovel used to toss the threshed grain against the breeze for the purpose of separating the chaff from the grain. Isa 30:24. The "shovel" mentioned in the same passage seems to have been a Winnowing-Fans. narrower implement, or, as some think, a fork or bread-basket used in a similar way. Jer 15:7; Matt 3:12. See Thresh, Winnow.