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scan

noun

  1. image, photograph made progressively
L14289 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. look at, examine
  2. scan into a computer
L755 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /skæn/ / /skan/ / /skɛn/

noun

Etymology: From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).

  1. A close investigation.
  2. A close investigation.
  3. An instance of scanning.

    The operators vacated the room during the scan.

    In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.

  4. The result or output of a scanning process.

    The doctors looked at the scans and made a diagnosis.

  5. A higher-order function that applies a binary operation to a sequence of values, starting with an accumulator, and returns a new sequence with the results.

verb

Etymology: From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).

  1. To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.

    She scanned the passage carefully but could not find what she was looking for.

    He scanned the horizon.

  2. To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.

    to scan the hard drive for errors

  3. To look about for; to look over quickly.
  4. To look about for; to look over quickly.
  5. To create an image of something with the use of a scanner.

    to scan a photograph

    to scan internal organs by means of computed tomography

  6. To read with an electronic device.

    to scan a barcode

    to scan a QR code

  7. To mount by steps; to go through with step by step.

    But ere these matchless heights I dare to scan, / There is a spot should not be pass'd in vain,— / Morat ! the proud, the patriot field ! where man / May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain,[…]

  8. To read or mark so as to show a specific metre.

    In such cases as these, almost any one with a good ear will "scan" the verse correctly enough without instruction. It is not proposed to give here a list of Shakspere's slurred and contracted words; […]

  9. To conform to a metrical structure.

    You're right, sir, it doesn't scan very well in the English, but in the Gaelic it's sheer poetry. Have you the Gaelic?