From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfan out phrasal verb1 SPREADif a group of people fan out, they walk forwards while spreading over a wide area2 SPREAD fan something ↔ out to spread out a group of things that you are holding so that they make a half-circle Fan the cards out, then pick one.3 if something such as hair or clothing fans out, it spreads out in many directions → fan→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
fan out• The men were told to fan out and begin the search.• Scores of FBI agents fanned out on Monday to interview potential witnesses. 