scanner

American  

[skan-er] / ˈskæn ər /

noun

• scanners
  plural

1. a person or thing that scans.

2. Also called optical reader, optical scanner. Computers. a device that scans printed, handwritten, barcode, or other visual data and encodes it into digital format.

3. Photography. any device for exposing an image on film, a sensitized plate, etc., by tracing light along a series of many closely spaced parallel lines.

4. (in aerial photography) a device for estimating the ratio of aircraft speed to aircraft altitude.

5. a photoelectric device for scanning a picture to determine automatically the density of the hue or value in each area for transmission by wire or radio or for preparation of color process printing plates.

6. a computer-aided electronic system using photoelectric cells to separate copy, as color illustrations, into its primary colors, correct color copy, and produce a set of color separations ready for proofing or printing.

7. Radio. a radio receiver, used especially by police, firefighters, and the press, that continuously tunes to preselected frequencies, broadcasting any signal that it detects.

8. Medicine/Medical, Biology. a device for examining a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material.

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scanner British  

/ ˈskænə /

noun

1. a person or thing that scans

2. a device, usually electronic, used to measure or sample the distribution of some quantity or condition in a particular system, region, or area

3. an aerial or similar device designed to transmit or receive signals, esp radar signals, inside a given solid angle of space, thus allowing a particular region to be scanned

4. any of various devices used in medical diagnosis to obtain an image of an internal organ or part See CAT scanner nuclear magnetic resonance scanner ultrasound scanner

5. informal a television outside broadcast vehicle

6. short for optical scanner

7. printing an electronic device which scans printed material and converts it to digital form

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• scanners
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of scanner

First recorded in 1550–60; scan + -er ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scanner scanners

In fact, an entire genus of vertebrate hid there, misidentified, until a CT scanner settled the question.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

The National Cyber Security Centre advises people to use the QR scanner that comes with their phone - usually the camera - rather than downloading a separate app.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

While Hitchcock required use of a fake-ID scanner, he said that he couldn’t control all of his employees and that the bouncer who let in patrons with fake IDs was fired.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

Their research involved 14 dogs in total who all sat very still in a brain scanner while they were shown pictures of people's faces.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Instead, he runs a scanner over the hill’s surface until it beeps.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Participants then did an exercise designing a store of their choice using ChatGPT, while fMRI scanners recorded their brain activity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Now, you’re probably thinking, wait a minute, I can already do that at more and more airports with those new CT bag scanners and don’t have PreCheck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The problems have been further complicated by equipment, including scanners and IT systems, breaking down.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

More police forces are adopting A.I. facial scanners; the tech is being piloted in schools, buses, and stores as well.

From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026

Toward the end of the twentieth century, scientists will invent brain scanners that can "image" the electrical and chemical activity inside a living brain.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

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