1. [n]  a computer network that spans a wider area than does a local area network
2. [adj]  lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness; "a wan smile"
3. [adj]  abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress; "the pallid face of the invalid"; "her wan face suddenly flushed"
4. [adj]  (of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble; "the pale light of a half moon"; "a pale sun"; "the late afternoon light coming through the el tracks fell in pale oblongs on the street"; "a pallid sky"; "the pale (or wan) stars"; "the wan light of dawn"
5. [v]  become pale and sickly

1. \Wan\, obs. imp. of {Win}.
   Won. --Chaucer.
   
   

2. \Wan\, a. [AS. wann, wonn, wan, won, dark, lurid, livid,
   perhaps originally, worn out by toil, from winnan to labor,
   strive. See {Win}.]
   Having a pale or sickly hue; languid of look; pale; pallid.
   ``Sad to view, his visage pale and wan.'' --Spenser.
   
         My color . . . [is] wan and of a leaden hue. --Chaucer.
   
         Why so pale and wan, fond lover?         --Suckling.
   
         With the wan moon overhead.              --Longfellow.
   
   

3. \Wan\, n.
   The quality of being wan; wanness. [R.]
   
         Tinged with wan from lack of sleep.      --Tennyson.
   
   

4. \Wan\, v. i.
   To grow wan; to become pale or sickly in looks. ``All his
   visage wanned.'' --Shak.
   
         And ever he mutter'd and madden'd, and ever wann'd with
         despair.                                 --Tennyson.
   
   

wide area network