scanner

American  

[skan-er] / ˈskæn ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that scans.

2. Also called optical reader.  Also called 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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of scanner

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

Example Sentences

Lying on your back in a big hospital scanner, as still as you can, with your arms above your head – for 45 minutes.

From BBC

Among the latter is one based on the museum’s holdings that used a handheld scanner to copy items in its collection and that blurs the lines between original objects and reproductions.

From The Wall Street Journal

Smiths Group said Wednesday that it agreed to sell Smiths Detection, which makes baggage and cargo scanners, to funds advised by CVC Capital Partners.

From The Wall Street Journal

Michael had woken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and had seen Ridge asleep, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, with his thumb resting on the scanner.

From Literature

Because of this remarkable efficiency, superconductors are already key to technologies such as MRI scanners and particle accelerators.

From Science Daily