scan

[ skan ]

/ skæn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scan ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), scanned, scan·ning.

to glance at or over or read hastily: to scan a page.

to examine the particulars or points of minutely; scrutinize.

to peer out at or observe repeatedly or sweepingly, as a large expanse; survey.

to analyze (verse) as to its prosodic or metrical structure; read or recite (verse) so as to indicate or test the metrical form.

to read (data) for use by a computer or computerized device, especially using an optical scanner.

Television. to traverse (a surface) with a beam of light or electrons in order to reproduce or transmit a picture.

Radar. to traverse (a region) with a beam from a radar transmitter.

Medicine/Medical, Biology. to examine (a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material) with a scanner.

verb (used without object), scanned, scan·ning.

to examine the meter of verse.

(of verse) to conform to the rules of meter.

Television. to scan a surface or the like.

noun

an act or instance of scanning; close examination.

a visual examination by means of a television camera, as for the purpose of making visible or relaying pictures from a remote place: a satellite scan of the dark side of the moon; video scans of property listings available to customers.

a particular image or frame in such video observation or a photograph made from it.

Medicine/Medical, Biology.

examination of the body or an organ or part, or a biologically active material, by means of a technique such as computed axial tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasonography, or scintigraphy.
the image or display so obtained.

Nearby words

Origin of scan

1350–1400; Middle English scannen, variant of *scanden < Late Latin scandere to scan verse, Latin: to climb (see ascend)

SYNONYMS FOR scan

1. study, investigate, inspect, search. 2. skim.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scan ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsscan·na·ble, adjectiveself-scanned, adjectiveun·scan·na·ble, adjectiveun·scanned, adjective

Can be confusedscam scan

Scan.

Scandinavia.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for scan

Prince William was seen clutching an envelope, when they left, most likely containing images of the scan.
Royal Baby Due In April|Tom Sykes|October 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If this was indeed the 12-week scan, we wil probably soon get an announcement from the palace concerning Kate's due date.
Kate Middleton Pictured Leaving Clinic: New Privacy Row|Tom Sykes|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So we need to think about the risk-benefit ratio of every scan we do.
Are Routine Scans Causing Cancer?|Dale Eisinger|September 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Lately, Richard Dawkins seems to scan the world for sore spots, take a good poke, and revel in the ensuing outcry.
Richard Dawkins Would Fail Philosophy 101|Elizabeth Picciuto|August 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Though the words may sound and scan the same, there is a world of difference in threat each poses to others.
It’s Not Time to Worry About China’s Plague Just Yet|Kent Sepkowitz|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The only thing is that locally Chintonbury is probably pronounced Chun'bury, in which case it will not scan.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, June 2, 1920|Various
Jinnie brought to mind some of the vivid pictures, and shyly lifted a pair of violet eyes to scan the face above her.
Rose O'Paradise|Grace Miller White
The eyes which she lifted to scan the bright young face above her had something like agony in them.
A Mountain Woman and Others|(AKA Elia Wilkinson) Elia W. Peattie
There is not one of the young heroes of the Commencement hour whom those elders do not scan with knowledge.
From the Easy Chair, series 2|George William Curtis
The figures were so large that Bob's eyes seemed as though they would pop out of his head, so eagerly did they scan them.
Bob Chester's Grit|Frank V. Webster

British Dictionary definitions for scan

scan

/ (skæn) /

verb scans, scanning or scanned

(tr) to scrutinize minutely

(tr) to glance over quickly

(tr) prosody to read or analyse (verse) according to the rules of metre and versification

(intr) prosody to conform to the rules of metre and versification

(tr) electronics to move a beam of light, electrons, etc, in a predetermined pattern over (a surface or region) to obtain information, esp either to sense and transmit or to reproduce a television image

(tr) to examine data stored on (magnetic tape, etc), usually in order to retrieve information

to examine or search (a prescribed region) by systematically varying the direction of a radar or sonar beam

physics to examine or produce or be examined or produced by a continuous charge of some variableto scan a spectrum

med to obtain an image of (a part of the body) by means of a scanner

noun

the act or an instance of scanning

med

the examination of a part of the body by means of a scannera brain scan; ultrasound scan
the image produced by a scanner

Derived Formsscannable, adjective

Word Origin for scan

C14: from Late Latin scandere to scan (verse), from Latin: to climb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scan

scan

late 14c., "mark off verse in metric feet," from Late Latin scandere "to scan verse," originally, in classical Latin, "to climb, rise, mount" (the connecting notion is of the rising and falling rhythm of poetry), from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap, climb" (cf. Sanskrit skandati "hastens, leaps, jumps;" Greek skandalon "stumbling block;" Middle Irish sescaind "he sprang, jumped," sceinm "a bound, jump").

Missing -d in English is probably from confusion with suffix -ed (see lawn (n.1)). Sense of "look at closely, examine minutely (as one does when counting metrical feet in poetry)" first recorded 1540s. The (opposite) sense of "look over quickly, skim" is first attested 1926. Related: Scanned; scanning.

scan

1706, "close investigation," from scan (v.). Meaning "act of scanning" is from 1937; sense of "image obtained by scanning" is from 1953.

Medicine definitions for scan

scan

[ skăn ]

v.

To move a finely focused beam of light or electrons in a systematic pattern over a surface in order to reproduce or sense and subsequently transmit an image.

To examine a body or a body part with a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.

To search stored computer data automatically for specific data.

n.

The act or an instance of scanning.

Examination of a body or body part by a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.

A picture or an image that is produced by this means.

Related formsscan′na•ble adj.scan′ner n.

scan

verb (used with object), scanned, scan·ning.

verb (used without object), scanned, scan·ning.

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of scan

Scan.

Examples from the Web for scan

scan

verb scans, scanning or scanned

noun

Word Origin for scan

scan

scan

scan

v.

n.