Alan

Definitions

1. A male given name from the Celtic languages.
2. A member of a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.
   historical
3. A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Elon.
4. Initialism of artificial light at night.
   abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
5. A surname.

Equivalents

Examples

“He grabbed at Alan by his Adam's apple, And Alan grabbed him back in furious grapple And clenched his fist and bashed him on the nose.”

“I could pose as an artist all right; so I took the studio. Also the name⟳ of Alan Beverley. My own⟳ is Bill Bates. I had often wondered what it would feel⟳ like⟳ to be called by some name⟳ like⟳ Alan Beverley or Cyril Trevelyan.”

“Skyglow is a form⟳ of artificial light⟳ at night (ALAN) whereby the atmosphere scatters light⟳ back to Earth, creating a glowing dome of diffused light⟳ that can extend⟳ hundreds of kilometres into the sea.”

CEFR level