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a group of travelers, as merchants or pilgrims, journeying together for safety in passing through deserts, hostile territory, etc.
any group traveling in or as if in a caravan and using a specific mode of transportation, as pack animals or motor vehicles:
a caravan of trucks; a camel caravan.
a large covered vehicle for conveying passengers, goods, a sideshow, etc.; van.
Chiefly British. a house on wheels; trailer.
to carry in or as if in a caravan:
Trucks caravaned food and medical supplies to the flood’s survivors.
to travel in or as if in a caravan:
They caravaned through Egypt.
Contemporary Examples

The caravan was carrying humanitarian aid, Russian authorities said.
Russia’s Suspicious Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine Separatists Anna Nemtsova August 11, 2014

According to CNN, he even used police escorts to usher his caravan between strip clubs this week.
The Epic Justin Bieber Meltdown May Be the Most Worrisome One Yet Kevin Fallon January 22, 2014

A caravan of trams stuck in the middle of the medieval city waited in line for the protest to end.
Ukraine’s Home Front Grows War Weary Anna Nemtsova October 22, 2014

This was how Alex and I came to be flying through raptors in a 10-seater Cessna 208 caravan one late September morning.
Walking With Wildebeests: Exploring the Serengeti on Foot Joanna Eede July 8, 2013

They may try to jump on the bandwagon but this is not their caravan.
Al Qaeda’s Odd Silence on Egypt Bruce Riedel February 5, 2011

Historical Examples

According to the usage of the country, the travellers returned immediately to the caravan which served as custom-house.
The Catholic World. Volume III; Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. E. Rameur

For a time, he had thought the caravan guard was going to be overwhelmed.
Millennium Everett B. Cole

He was left, at his own request, on a little stream, while the caravan passed on some six miles further to camp.
A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 William Henry Gray

And this second purse is a present, in memory of your gallant defense of the caravan.
Millennium Everett B. Cole

This had grown a strange thought, so long had the caravan been to him a house of warmth and plenty.
A Rough Shaking George MacDonald

noun

a large enclosed vehicle capable of being pulled by a car or lorry and equipped to be lived in US and Canadian name trailer
(as modifier): a caravan site

(esp in some parts of Asia and Africa) a company of traders or other travellers journeying together, often with a train of camels, through the desert
a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc, esp travelling in single file
a large covered vehicle, esp a gaily coloured one used by Romany Gypsies, circuses, etc
verb -vans, -vanning, -vanned
(intransitive) (Brit) to travel or have a holiday in a caravan
n.

1580s, from Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, carevane “caravan” (13c.), or Medieval Latin caravana, picked up during the Crusades from Persian karwan “group of desert travelers” (which Klein connects to Sanskrit karabhah “camel”). Used in English for “vehicle” 17c., especially for a covered cart. Hence, in modern British use (from 1930s), often a rough equivalent of the U.S. mobile home.