1. A company of travelers journeying together, as across a desert or through hostile territory.
2. A single file of vehicles or pack animals.
3. A large covered vehicle; a van.
4. Chiefly British. A trailer or dwelling place on wheels.

[French caravane or Italian carovana, both from Persian kārvān.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.