Verb.
Pronunciation: skæn.
Etymology: from Latin scandĕre (= to climb; later, to scan a poem).
Preterite tense: scanned; preterite participle: scanned.
Present
participle: scanning.
It is dated from
the end of 1300.
Transitively: 1. To
recite (verse) metrically; to count the measures of (a poem). Cf. scansion.
2. To inspect (something) part by
part. Hence: to look searchingly
at or into.
Synonyms: to scrutinize, examine.
Translation: scruter, in French; escrutar, in Spanish; scrutare, in Italian.
I scanned more narrowly the
real aspect of the building. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an
excessive antiquity.
Edgar Poe
The purport of his visit soon became evident; he scanned the vessel with eagle eyes
from the bends to the royal-mast.
Thomas Jacobs… Adventures in the Pacific Ocean
[…] blue eyes, which brightened with a restless expression as they scanned the features of her aunt's
guest.
Ballou's Monthly Magazine, vol. 3-4
He greeted me with brevity, and, in the moment of shaking hands, scanned me from head to foot.
Charlotte Brontë… The
Professor
Mr. Nyttleton scanned the whole heap of
letters, testimonials, and references, sorting them into two heaps.
Thomas Hardy… Desperate Remedies
"Good-morning," we said. One of the men was a sergeant. He scanned my animal, and then me, with
a […] smile.
George Cable…The
Cavalier
-) Particularly: a. To subject (an area, space, etc.) to a minute search, in order to
find someone or something.
The next [… action] in cleaning up a system is to scan it for viruses, adware, and spyware.
Jean Andrews… Fixing Windows Vista
b. To subject (something written or printed, as a text, a list) to a
search, in order to find something.
Synonym: to search.
[…] the computer scans the text and
short-term memory for information to
complete certain expectations.
William Costanzo… The Electronic Text
[…] we scanned literature for descriptions of food,
perfumes, etc.
Ernest Dichter… The Strategy of Desire
The health centre staff were able to scan the reservations database.
Ray Green… The Toxic Power
Taking the map of England, therefore, I scanned it for the purpose of selecting some out-of-the-way place where we should
be able to maintain a perfect incognito, and appear at the same time as
respectable, easy circumstanced.
Eliza Cook… Eliza
Cook's Journal, vol. 8
They who have seen him scanning the steward's list
of dishes, and [… pronouncing] the necessary orders for his own and his
friend's dinner, at about half-past four in the afternoon, have seen John
Vavasor at the only moment of the day at which he is ever much in earnest.
Anthony Trollope… Can you forgive her?
c. (Of a computer
or a computerized device) to read (data).
5. To consider (something)
minutely.
[…] until we had carefully scanned the facts.
Edward Hitchcock… Geology
of Vermont, vol. I
6. To cause (something or
someone) to be traversed by a scanning beam; to subject to scanning or to a
scanner. Particularly: to make a scan of (an animal body or part of it).
[…] the electron beam scans a target on which
an image of the scene to be televised is focused.
M. G. Scroggie… Wireless and Electronics
When the wizard starts, follow this procedure to scan your pictures.
R. Cowart, B. Knittel… Microsoft Windows Vista
From the outside, a CT scanner resembles a huge doughnut, with a
cylindrical hole roughly 70cm in diameter […]. The person to be scanned lies on a table.
Suzanne Amador Kane… Introduction to Physics
7. To cause (a beam or its like)
to traverse something to scan it.
[…] as the SEM beam is scanned over the specimen,
the image is simultaneously produced on the viewing screen.
M. Dykstra – L. Reuss… Biological Electron Microscopy
Intransitively: to make a scanning.
It was a carefully prepared description of the Guildford experiments […].
What interested me most, however, as in every technical paper that one scans through quickly, was the paragraph
headed “Conclusions”.
Nevil Shute… No
Highway
They told me that it was going to take a while, so I had to sit there
and be patient until the computer scanned through to find
the corrupt files and delete them.
C.
C. Harrison… Now is the time
English words derived from Latin scandĕre, see ASCEND.
Words derived from the verb SCAN: scannable, scanner, scanning, scanningly.
