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9 dictionary results for: scan
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
scan       [skan] Pronunciation Key verb, scanned, scan·ning, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.to glance at or over or read hastily: to scan a page.
2.to examine the particulars or points of minutely; scrutinize.
3.to peer out at or observe repeatedly or sweepingly, as a large expanse; survey.
4.to analyze (verse) as to its prosodic or metrical structure; read or recite (verse) so as to indicate or test the metrical form.
5.to read (data) for use by a computer or computerized device, esp. using an optical scanner.
6.Television. to traverse (a surface) with a beam of light or electrons in order to reproduce or transmit a picture.
7.Radar. to traverse (a region) with a beam from a radar transmitter.
8.Medicine/Medical, Biology. to examine (a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material) with a scanner.
–verb (used without object)
9.to examine the meter of verse.
10.(of verse) to conform to the rules of meter.
11.Television. to scan a surface or the like.
–noun
12.an act or instance of scanning; close examination.
13.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.
14.a particular image or frame in such video observation or a photograph made from it.
15.Medicine/Medical, Biology.
a.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.
b.the image or display so obtained.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME scannen, var. of *scanden < LL scandere to scan verse, L: to climb (see ascend)]

scan·na·ble, adjective

1. study, investigate, inspect, search. 2. skim.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
scan       (skān)  Pronunciation Key 
v.   scanned, scan·ning, scans

v.   tr.
  1. To examine closely.
  2. To look over quickly and systematically: scanning the horizon for signs of land.
  3. To look over or leaf through hastily: scanned the newspaper while eating breakfast.
  4. To analyze (verse) into metrical patterns.
  5. Electronics
    1. 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.
    2. To move a radar beam in a systematic pattern over (a sector of sky) in search of a target.
  6. Computer Science To search (stored data) automatically for specific data.
  7. Medicine To examine (a body or body part) with a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
  8. To digitally encode (text, for example) with an optical scanner.

v.   intr.
  1. To analyze verse into metrical patterns.
  2. To conform to a metrical pattern.
  3. Electronics To undergo electronic scanning.

n.  
  1. The act or an instance of scanning.
  2. Scope or field of vision.
    1. Examination of a body or body part by a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
    2. A picture or image produced by this means.
  3. A single sweep of the beam of electrons across a television screen.


[Middle English scanden, scannen, to scan a verse, from Latin scandere, to climb, scan a verse; see skand- in Indo-European roots.]

scan'na·ble adj.
Word History: In the 1969 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary a dead issue was buried by our Usage Panel, 85 percent of whom thought it was acceptable to use scan in the sense "to look over quickly," though the note stated that this was less formal usage. The usage issue was raised because scan in an earlier sense meant "to examine closely." From a historical perspective it is easy to see how these two opposite senses of scan developed. The source of our word, Latin scandere, which meant "to climb," came to mean "to scan a verse of poetry," because one could beat the rhythm by lifting and putting down one's foot. The Middle English verb scannen, derived from scandere, came into Middle English in this sense (first recorded in a text composed before 1398). In the 16th century this highly specialized sense having to do with the close analysis of verse developed other senses, such as "to criticize, examine minutely, interpret, perceive." From these senses having to do with examination and perception, it was an easy step to the sense "to look at searchingly" (first recorded in 1798), perhaps harking back still to the careful detailed work involved in analyzing prosody. The sense of looking something over to find a specific set of things was eventually broadened to include looking over the surface of something, with or without close scrutiny of the details. From this was born the modern usage of scan as a verb meaning "look over quickly."

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
scan  (v.)
1398, "mark off verse in metric feet," from L.L. scandere "to scan verse," originally, in classical L., "to climb" (the connecting notion is of the rising and falling rhythm of poetry), from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap" (cf. Skt. skandati "hastens, leaps, jumps;" Gk. skandalon "stumbling block;" M.Ir. sescaind "he sprang, jumped," sceinm "a bound, jump"). Missing -d in Eng. is probably from confusion with suffix -ed (see lawn (1)). Sense of "look at closely, examine" first recorded 1550. The (opposite) sense of "look over quickly, skim" is first attested 1926. The noun is recorded from 1706. Scanner as a type of mechanical device is recorded from 1927.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
scan

noun
1. the act of scanning; systematic examination of a prescribed region; "he made a thorough scan of the beach with his binoculars" 
2. an image produced by scanning; "he analyzed the brain scan"; "you could see the tumor in the CAT scan" 

verb
1. examine minutely or intensely; "the surgeon scanned the X-ray" 
2. examine hastily; "She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi" 
3. make a wide, sweeping search of; "The beams scanned the night sky" 
4. conform to a metrical pattern 
5. move a light beam over; in electronics, to reproduce an image 
6. read metrically; "scan verses" 
7. obtain data from magnetic tapes; "This dictionary can be read by the computer" [syn: read

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

scan (skān)
v. scanned, scan·ning, scans

  1. 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.
  2. To examine a body or a body part with a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
  3. To search stored computer data automatically for specific data.
n.
  1. The act or an instance of scanning.
  2. Examination of a body or body part by a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
  3. A picture or an image that is produced by this means.

scan'na·ble adj.
scan'ner n.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

SCAN
1. ["A Parallel Implementation of the SCAN Language", N.G. Bourbakis, Comp Langs 14(4):239-254 (1989)].
2. A real-time language from DEC.
[Are these the same language?]
(1994-11-01)

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

scan
1. (computer peripheral) See scanner.
2. (circuit design) See scan design.
3. (functional programming) See scanl, scanr.
4. An algorithm for scheduling multiple accesses to a disk. A number of requests are ordered according to the data's position on the storage device. This reduces the disk arm movement to one "scan" or sweep across the whole disk in the worst case. The serivce time can be estimated from the disk's track-to-track seek time, maximum seek time (one scan), and maximum rotational latency.
Scan-EDF is a variation on this.
(1995-11-15)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Scan

Scan\ (sk[a^]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scanned (sk[a^]nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Scanning.] [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]

1. To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [Obs.]

Nor stayed till she the highest stage had scand. --Spenser.

2. Specifically (Pros.), to go through with, as a verse, marking and distinguishing the feet of which it is composed; to show, in reading, the metrical structure of; to recite metrically.

3. To go over and examine point by point; to examine with care; to look closely at or into; to scrutinize.

The actions of men in high stations are all conspicuous, and liable to be scanned and sifted. --Atterbury.

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