Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—F

Fan

I could brain him with his lady's fan (1 Henry IV., ii. 3)—i.e. knock his brains out with a fan handle. The ancient fans had long handles, so that ladies used their fans for walking-sticks, and it was by no means unusual for very testy dames to chastise unruly children by beating them with their fan-sticks.

Wer't not better
Your head were brokeu with the handle of a fan?

Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit at Several Weapons, v.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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