scann.
/skan/, U.S. /skæn/ 1.
a. The action of scanning; close investigation or scrutiny; perception, discernment; a scanning look.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun]
examininga1325
examinationa1450
examine1494
examen1502
scanning1560
scrutation1593
scrutiny1604
pervestigation1610
microscope1671
introspectiona1676
scan1706
bolting1771
conning1823
grubbing1831
vivisection1880
searchlight1891
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun]
anyitOE
eyesightc1175
sightc1175
sentimentc1374
mindc1384
intentc1386
fantasyc1400
savoura1425
spiritsc1450
perceiverancea1500
perceiverationa1500
senses1528
perceivance1534
sense1553
kenc1560
mind-sight1587
knowledge1590
fancy1593
animadversion1596
cognition1651
awaring1674
perception1678
scan1838
apperception1848
perceivedness1871
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > a look or glance > [noun] > scanning look
scan1903
1706 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1852) II. 266 May bear the scan of our superiors.
1775 Washington 28 Nov. in Sparks Writings (1834) III. 178 (Funk) What will be the end of these manœuvres is beyond my scan.
1828 S. T. Coleridge Garden of Boccaccio 33 All spirits..that..lent a lustre to the earnest scan Of manhood, musing what and whence is man.
1838 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth (ed. 2) 1st Ser. 279 The princes and lords of thought shoot forth their winged words into regions beyond the scan of the people.
1903 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 480/1 A curious watchfulness pervades every man—a quick scan of every rock and bush on walking abroad.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xvii. 277 If the computer were to continue the forward scanning, four scans would be needed.
1973 W. McCarthy Detail ii. 90 The air marshals scanned their bodies with their eyes. Ben passed through. I guess this scan works, he thought.
b. The action or practice of scanning with a beam, aerial, or detector. Cf. scan v. 6f.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > [noun] > optical scanning
scanning1927
scan1937
optical scanning1953
optical character recognition1958
OCR1966
1937 Discovery Nov. 330/1 This..scheme is modified by leaving out alternate lines during alternate scans, a technique which improves the definition and reduces flicker.
1955 Sci. Amer. June 41/1 When Hey published his discovery after the war, radio astronomers began an intensive radio scan of the Sun.
1958 Times 2 May 7/2 One of these provided the long-range warning, while the others made a coordinated scan of various sections of the target area as the structure rotated.
1966 M. Woodhouse Tree Frog xxi. 155 Say that echo's your drone up there... Then you get your vertical scan radar for altitude.
1972 Sci. Amer. Jan. 57/1 The rate of scan that produces a micrograph is often much lower than the scanning rate in television.
2. A single line or sweep produced by or in a scanning action (cf. scanning n. 2b); also, an entire raster.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instruments for observing > [noun] > scanning devices > line or sweep produced by scan
scan1934
1934 J. H. Reyner Television ix. 103 The separation between the centres of the lenses was equal to the width of the picture scan.
1945 Electronic Engin. 17 689 The scan to fly-back ratio is constant for all time base velocities.
1952 Jrnl. Lab. Clin. Med. 39 153 The counter is moved alternately back and forth, with an 1/ 8 inch vertical displacement for each sweep or scan over the area occupied by the thyroid gland.
1966 Electronics 17 Oct. 114 The large spike at the beginning of each scan is a turnaround transient.
1967 W. Wharton & D. Howorth Princ. Television Reception iii. 38 Each complete scan is called a field, and two successive scans which provide the complete picture information are called a picture.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xx. 7 The half line, left over at the end of the field scan, displaces the next field downwards by a full line, and interlacing is achieved.
3. An image, diagram, etc., obtained by scanning; spec. in Medicine = scintiscan n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > [noun] > image or record produced by
B-scan1947
scintillograph1950
scintigram1952
scan1953
scintiscan1954
photoscan1956
scintigraph1957
scintillogram1958
society > communication > representation > a plastic or graphic representation > graphic representation > [noun] > by means of a computer > photographs or images obtained by X-ray, etc.
thermotype1877
phosphorograph1880
shadow-picture1889
inductoscript1892
radiogram1896
radiograph1896
roentgenogram1896
shadowgraph1896
shadow-photograph1896
skiagram1896
skiagraph1896
X-radiograph1899
X-ray1900
autoradiograph1903
vaporograph1903
vapourgraph1903
radiophotograph1904
roentgenograph1905
microradiogram1913
radiophoto1915
powder photograph1917
interferogram1921
radioautograph1941
microradiograph1944
topograph1944
heat map1947
cinefluorograph1949
scan1953
thermogram1957
thermograph1964
cineradiograph1965
stereoscan1968
Kirlian1970
autorad1985
1953 Nucleonics Nov. 45/1 Fig. 13 presents the coincidence scan and unbalance scan of a patient who showed a regrowth of tumor beneath an area of previous resection.
1956 Jrnl. Neurosurg. 13 347 (heading) This scan is in the posterior-anterior orientation of the head.
1969 M. Crichton Andromeda Strain i. 22 We'll want a flyby over that town... And a complete scan.
1971 Guardian 6 Feb. 1/7 There were, as the first scan of the [lunar] landscape showed, a few very large boulders.
1976 Woman's Day (N.Y.) Nov. 164/2 I might ask for bone, liver and brain scans to make sure there had not been any metastasis to other parts of my body.
1978 Nature 14 Dec. 733/2 (caption) Absorbance scans of..SDS-polyacrylamide gels.
Compounds
scan-column index n. a tabular representation of coded information concerning or contained in a set of documents, for use in information retrieval.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > action of informing > [noun] > information retrieval > index
Yellow Pages1871
scan-column index1962
1962 J. O'Connor in Amer. Documentation 13 205/1 Place the document number in the left-hand column. Then, for each indexing term assigned to that document, look up the column and character abbreviation for the term, and in that column enter that character. I call an index of this form a Scan Column index.
1965 M. E. Stevens Automatic Indexing vi. 118 Tabledex, the Scan-column Index, and similar tools provide to some extent a display of prior associations between index terms.
1971 A. Gilchrist Thesaurus in Retrieval 140 The scan-column index. This is another book-form coordinate information retrieval system..in which all the item numbers are listed numerically in the first column, the other columns containing descriptors, allotted to those items. A separate table indicates which column would be searched for a particular descriptor. To facilitate searching, descriptors have been reduced to symbols.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
scanv.
/skan/, U.S. /skæn/ 1.
a. transitive. To analyse (verse) by determining the nature and number of the component feet or the number and prosodic value of the syllables; to indicate the structure or test the correctness of (a verse) by reciting it with metrical emphasis and pauses, or by counting on the fingers the feet as they occur in recitation. Also occasionally to describe prosodically (a word or sequence of words); to find (a particular kind of foot) in a given portion of a verse.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > study of poetry > study poetry [verb (transitive)] > scan
scan1398
scance1704
α.
in extended use.1791–2 W. Wordsworth Descr. Sketches 147 There an old man an olden measure scanned On a rude viol.β. 1398 [see α. ]. a1684 R. Leighton Pract. Comm. 1st Epist. Peter (1693) I. 366 The word is My Observers, or those that scand my wayes every foot of them, that examine them as a Verse,..if there be but a wrong measure in them, they will.. mark it.1729 B. Mandeville Fable Bees ii. vi. 416 The manner of scanding and chanting those Verses.1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) xvii. lxxxv & who kanne scanne [in 1495 printed scand] a verse may knowe þt þe myddel silable stondeþ for a schorte silable in þe secunde verse.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 442/2 Scanne verse (P. scannyn versis), scando.
1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Bij Those verses..Whiche longe deliberation..hath not..on the fingers scande.
1614 T. Overbury et al. Characters in Wife now Widdow sig. F2 He treads in rule, and one hand skans [1615 (7th impr.) scannes] verses, and the other holds his scepter.
1638 H. Rainsford in G. Sandys' Div. Poems To Author, Thy Lines I weigh not by th'Originall; Nor skan thy Words how evenly they fall.
1706 W. Walsh Let. to Pope 9 Sept. in A. Pope Wks. (1736) V. 51 They scan their verses upon their fingers.
1874 Symonds in Fortn. Rev. Dec. 769 But a trochee in the fourth place! (for so he [Johnson] scanned the lines), O Milton and Cowley! shame upon your ears!
1874 Symonds in Fortn. Rev. Dec. 770 Critics like Todd think nothing of scanning an anapæst in the place of one of Johnson's feet.
1900 W. W. Skeat Chaucer Canon §15 It is impossible to scan the Ormulum until one has learnt the grammar.
b. absol.
ΚΠ
1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 32 An eare that could measure a just cadence, and scan without articulating.
1735 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot (new ed.) 165 Each Wight, who reads not, but who scans and spells.
a1740 J. Warton Sappho's Advice 30 A pen I handled for a fan, And learnt not how to dance but scan.
c. intransitive (for passive). To admit of being scanned, to be found metrically correct.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > be metrical [verb (intransitive)] > scan
scan1857
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iii. 289 Martin..proceeded..to convert these..into Latin that would scan.
1865 F. A. Paley Æschylus 184 (note) The lines will neither scan nor construe like ordinary verses.
a. transitive. To criticize; to test or estimate the correctness or value of; to judge by a certain rule or standard. Sometimes with allusion to sense 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > according to rule or standard
meteeOE
examine1340
puta1382
measurec1384
scan?c1550
cantle1603
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)]
reprehendc1400
murmur1424
discommenda1500
belack1531
to find fault (with, at)c1540
scan?c1550
fault1563
pinch1567
to lift or move a lip1579
raign1581
reflect1605
criminate1645
criticize1652
nick1668
critic1697
chop1712
stricture1851
to get on to ——1895
chip1898
rap1899
nitpick1956
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > try or test [verb (transitive)] > test accuracy or correctness of
verifya1527
scan?c1550
?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. i. 95 Constantinus..did banishe Arrius,..bie cause hee went abowte to skanne the Christian relligion with mischevus lies and glosinges [L. quod Christiana dogmata nefariis commentis metiri est impie conatus].
1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxviii. 222 If a man would exactly scanne the temperature of beere.
1607 S. Hieron Back-parts of Iehouah in Wks. (1620) I. 179 The loue of fathers toward their children,..of egles to their young ones, of hens to their chickens, all these haue beene but shadowes to it, but no sufficient measures by which to skanne it [sc. God's mercy].
1618 Sir R. Naunton in S. R. Gardiner Fortescue Papers (1871) 64 For to write I had neither leysure, nor lyst to have my lines scanned by any equivocating preists.
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada i. ii. i. 17 The rule of happiness by reason scan.
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man ii. 1 Know then Thy-self, presume not God to scan.
1754 Bp. T. Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. i. 64 We attempt to scan the divine Justice by our narrow conceptions of it.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 18 I see the lords of human kind pass by... True to imagin'd right, above controul, While even the peasant boasts these rights to scan, And learns to venerate himself as man.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. iv. 428 The feeble discernment which has generally scanned the proceedings of the East India Company.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > form judgement, decide [verb (intransitive)]
deemc825
determinec1384
judgea1400
discerna1425
concludec1515
rest1530
scan1582
arbitrate1590
doom1591
dijudicate1607
dignosce1641
vote1643
the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > hold an opinion, opine [verb (intransitive)] > form an opinion
judgea1400
scan1582
allow1738
1582 A. Munday Eng. Romayne Lyfe sig. C1v But when the Pope had scanned on this hasty busines..they were denyed theyr request.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie v. 26/1 By these wordes he betokeneth, that wee must rest wholely vppon that which God saith, and not stande scanning after our owne fancies.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie xiii. 76/1 When men will needes scanne of Gods workes and prouidence according to their owne reason: they shall finde thinges to grudge at.
1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 42 I leaue for you to scan, Both of the maydens rich attyre, and iewels of the man.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xii. 91 I intend not to proceed any further in this curiositie..nor..to haue it put in execution in our vulgar Poesie, but to be pleasantly scanned vpon.
1602 S. Rowlands Tis Merrie 23 And when they meete, they do discourse and scan About whose choyce hath got the kindest man.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God iii. xvii. 132 If this hadde hapened in our times, Lord how it would haue beene scanned vppon.
3. β. a1635 T. Randolph Poems (1638) 11 The smooth Viper every member [of sleeping Lycoris] scands.† b. With clause as object. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To examine, consider, or discuss minutely. †to scan out: to discover by examination.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > find out by investigation [verb (transitive)]
seekc900
seeOE
searcha1382
takea1382
inquire1390
undergrope?a1412
explore1531
to pry out1548
to scan out1548
to hunt out1576
sound1596
exquire1607
pervestigate1610
pump1611
trace1642
probe1649
to hunt up1741
to pick a person's brains (also brain)1770
verify1801
to get a load of1929
sus1966
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > scrutinize [verb (transitive)]
through-seekOE
gropea1250
to search outa1382
ensearch1382
boltc1386
examinea1387
ransackc1390
ripea1400
search1409
overreach?a1425
considerc1425
perquirec1460
examec1480
peruse?1520
grounda1529
study1528
oversearch1532
perscrute1536
scrute1536
to go over ——1537
scan1548
examinate1560
rifle1566
to consider of1569
excuss1570
ripe1573
sift1573
sift1577
to pry into ——1581
dive1582
rub1591
explore1596
pervestigate1610
dissecta1631
profound1643
circumspect1667
scrutinize1671
perscrutatea1679
introspect1683
rummage1690
reconnoitre1740
scrutinate1742
to look through1744
scrutiny1755
parse1788
gun1819
cat-haul1840
vivisect1876
scour1882
microscope1888
tooth-comb1893
X-ray1896
comb1904
fine-tooth comb1949
1548 R. Crowley Informacion & Peticion sig. Bv Scan the wordes of the Psalmist concernyng this mattier.
1586 Let. to Earl Leicester 16 But you Lawyers are so nice in sifting and skanning euery woorde and letter.
1592 G. Babington Certaine Comfortable Notes Genesis (xi.) 41v The time of this tower built, and speech confounded, may be asked…I stand not vpon coniectures to scan it out.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iii. 250 My Lord, I would I might intreate your honour,..To scan this thing no further. View more context for this quotation
1674 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 166 Whoever scanns ye words of ye Adress cannot..putt any other construction upon them then such as we have done.
1770 O. Goldsmith Deserted Village 161 Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began.
1828 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers 11 July (1884) I It is wonderful with what facility and accuracy he scanned all those facts.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man II. xxi. 402 Man scans with scrupulous care, the character and pedigree of his horses..before he matches them.
1886 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 31 379 We ought not, I think, to scan the pleadings too narrowly upon a question of the right to discovery.
ΚΠ
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos iii. sig. F.ivv And what those walls shuld be we skanne, & councel great we take.
1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits v. 55 There riseth a like difficultie, in skanning whence it commeth that nature made two eyes, and two eares.
1621 T. W. tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard 189 It belongs to some god, to scan and to see which of all these opinions is true.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (transitive)]
unloukOE
areadOE
spele?c1225
inredec1315
expounda1340
construe1399
interpretate1517
explain1538
scan1562
disentraverse1610
unspherea1616
explicate1628
spell1635
disenvelop1741
extract1775
interpret1795
clarify1823
read1847
to read between the lines1866
1562 J. Heywood Prov. O iij This woord enough twoo waies we may skan. Thone much enough, thother littell enough.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iii. 75 And now Ile doo't, and so a goes to heauen, And so am I reuendge, that would be scand A villaine kills my father, and for that, I..doe this same villaine send To heauen.
1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 463 But concerning the limiting of the space of sixe yeares for seruice,..what might bee the reason thereof, thus it is diuersly scanned. 1. Some do thus moralize it [etc.].
1611 T. Heywood Golden Age v. sig. K2v The Fates..Haue summon'd Saturnes three sonnes to the Tower, To them the three Dominions to assure Of Heauen, of Sea, of Hell. How these are scand, Let none decide but such as vnderstand.
1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 4 Hence men came to scan the Scriptures, by the Letter.
5. To perceive, discern. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > succeed in seeing or catch sight of
underyetec1000
aspya1250
kenc1275
ofyetec1275
choosea1300
akenc1300
descrivec1300
ofkenc1300
readc1300
espyc1320
descryc1330
spyc1380
discernc1405
discover1553
scan1558
scry1558
decern1559
describe1574
to make out1575
escry1581
interview1587
display1590
to set sight of (in)c1595
sight1602
discreevec1650
glance1656
to catch a glimpse of1679
steal1731
oversee1735
glimpse1779
twig1796
to clap eyes on1838
spot1848
sky1900
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos ii. sig. F.jv Whan sodenly the sound Of feete we heare to tread, and men full thicke my father skand.
1605 Famous Hist. Capt. Stukeley sig. C4 My meaning had you beene but heere euen now, you might haue scand without my vtterance.
1771 J. Beattie Minstrel: Bk. 1st lii. 27 One part, one little part, we dimly scan Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream.
1792 W. Cowper Stanzas for Year ii Man..not wise enough to scan His best concerns aright, Would gladly stretch life's little span To ages, if he might.
1808 W. Scott Marmion iii. xii. 144 His thoughts I scan not; but I ween, That [etc.].
1868 Ld. Tennyson Lucretius 192 A satyr..draws Nearer and nearer, and I scan him now Beastlier than any phantom of his kind.
6.
a. To look at searchingly, examine with the eyes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > examine or inspect
through-lookc1175
spyc1325
to see overc1475
to see over ——1490
view1544
overview1549
sight1556
pervise1577
speculate1616
study1616
to have (also take) a look1673
to have a look1725
to eye over1795
scan1798
search1811
survey1860
skin1876
1798 S. Lee Young Lady's Tale in H. Lee Canterbury Tales II. ii. 251 His wild..eyes now scanned heaven impatiently.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake ii. 72 While Roderick scanned, For her dear form, his mother's band.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge ii. 245 ‘Humph!’ he said when he had scanned his features; ‘I don't know you.’
1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia I. x. 218 She..sat scanning him intently from head to foot.
1865 J. H. Bennet Winter in S. Europe (ed. 3) x. 293 A lost dog will scan the features of those who pass him in the street.
1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.-E. Afr. 375 I climbed to the top of the hill in order to scan the country on ahead.
b. To search (literature, a text, a list, etc.) quickly or systematically for particular information or features.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read rapidly
skim1799
scan1926
speed-read1960
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > find out by investigation [verb (transitive)] > by consulting sources
looklOE
seek?a1500
to look upa1632
consulta1634
trawl1906
scan1926
screen1942
1926 Rec. Geol. Surv. India LIX. 202 On scanning this table it will be observed that the pyrope molecule is present in quantity..only in one garnet.
1950 Amer. Documentation 1 81 The rapid selector employs an optical-electronic system for scanning a reel of motion picture film on which are entered both abstracts and corresponding index entries.
1966 Computers & Humanities 1 12 Some [articles] are so superficial that the reader for whom the volume is designed would do better to scan the most recent ACLS list of computerized research projects in the humanities.
1967 C. Berners-Lee in G. Wills & R. Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 7 Some computer manufacturers supply..suites of statistical programs for scanning files to accumulate the required statistics and then to analyse them in one of a number of ways.
1967 Times Rev. Industry July 89/2 Without guide lines as to where the company wants to go, scanning environmental information becomes directionless.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xvii. 277 The computer first scans the table from the beginning to the end comparing the first record with the second, the second with the third, etc.
1972 Computers & Humanities 7 19 Dilligan examines the extent to which linguistic orientation toward prosody serves as the basis for computer programs to scan large bodies of English verse.
1973 Nature 31 Aug. p. xiii/1 (advt.) He or she will be required to scan incoming literature, undertake literature searches.
c. To cause (an area, object, or image) to be systematically traversed by a beam or detector; to convert (an image) into a linear sequence of signals in this way for purposes of transmission or processing; spec. in Medicine, to make a scan of (the body or part of it); to examine (a patient, etc.) with a scanner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > use optical skills and techniques [verb (transitive)] > scan
scan1928
the world > health and disease > healing > diagnosis or prognosis > radiography or radiology > scanning > scan [verb (transitive)]
scan1953
1928 Television Nov. 9/1 One feature which is wrongly quoted by critics relates to how a scene is scanned.
1930 B.B.C. Year-bk. 450/2 Scanning disc, in Television or Picture Transmission, a rotating opaque disc perforated with a series of holes in the form of a spiral. A ray of light passing through the holes is thus caused to move over (scan) a picture or an object placed behind the holes on the farther side from the source of light.
1930 B.B.C. Year-bk. 450/2 Scanning frequency, the rate at which the picture or object is scanned.
1933 Proc. Wireless Section Inst. Electr. Engineers 8 219/2 Nipkow in 1884 proposed..to transmit the picture point by point, or to scan the picture.
1953 S. W. Amos & D. C. Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. iv. 52 The electron beam is made to scan the target in a series of nearly horizontal lines.
1953 Amer. Jrnl. Roentgenol. 70 605/1 These instruments have been used to scan the thyroid gland of human patients in vivo.
1953 Amer. Jrnl. Roentgenol. 70 605/1 It becomes practical to scan a patient from head to toe in a routine manner.
1954 Nucleonics Jan. 60/1 By placing tracing paper and carbon paper between the stylus and the drawing table, the distribution of radioactivity in an area being scanned is recorded.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 81 A replay head scans a slightly greater length of tape than would be suggested by the size of the gap.
1966 Sci. News 3 Sept. 166 An improved way of scanning the brain for tumors has been reported by two California scientists.
1967 Nursing Times 18 Aug. 1093/1 Not so well known is the use of radio-isotopes in radiography, to enable various organs of the body to be ‘scanned’ to investigate function, or the presence of tumours.
1968 Brit. Med. Bull. 24 191/2 Radiographs..and so on..can also be digitally structured for insertion in a computer... They are scanned line by line (television-wise) by a ‘flying-spot scanner’, and passed through an analogue-to-digital converter which..encodes the contrast level of each point, as a row of holes.
1969 Times 15 Mar. 7/8 The photographs are scanned point by point by a photoelectric device.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xx. 79 Hard-copy facsimile systems generate a signal by systematically scanning the subject copy and producing a current corresponding to its light-intensity variations.
1986 Acta Obstetr. & Gynecol. Scand. LXV. 147/1 One hundred and fifteen women were considered to be at risk of cervical incompetence... They were scanned serially from the first trimester to 32 weeks of gestation.
d. intransitive. To carry out scanning. Const. various prepositions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > scan
scan1934
eyeball1970
1934 J. H. Reyner Television viii. 95 By causing the spot on the cathode ray screen to scan over a suitable area the image of the spot traverses the whole of the film.
1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway v. 147 What interested me most, however, as in every technical paper that one scans through quickly, was the paragraph headed ‘Conclusions’.
1953 A. T. Starr Radio & Radar Technique i. 46 For the purpose of homing on a ship or aircraft, it is sufficient to scan through a relatively small angle in azimuth, say ±30°.
1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production ii. 20 A gun in the picture-tube..produces such a stream of electrons, and this is made to scan over the powdered screen in a regular series of sweeps.
1965 ‘J. le Carré’ Looking-glass War xviii. 204 He may start with the wrong crystal... It's safest for base to scan with so many crystals.
1975 Physics Bull. July 327/1 As the beam repeatedly scans across the faceplate, charge is accumulated.
1979 Sci. Amer. Mar. 82/1 Given a source of light that is monochromatic but tunable, an absorption spectrum can be measured by passing the light through a sample of the gas and scanning continuously through the frequencies surrounding a line in the spectrum.
e. transitive. To traverse or light upon (a constituent element) as part of the scanning of the larger whole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > use optical skills and techniques [verb (transitive)] > scan > traverse or light upon constituent area
scan1937
1937 A. M. Turing in Proc. London Math. Soc. 42 233 The machine moves so that it scans the square immediately to the right of the one it was scanning previously.
1937 Discovery Nov. 329/1 When the dots are being scanned, the transmitted signal depends on the relative brightness of the dots in turn.
1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production ii. 19 As each element is scanned and gives up its information, it becomes ‘wiped clean’.
f. To cause (a beam, etc.) systematically to traverse an area; to cause (an aerial) to rotate or oscillate to this end.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > use optical skills and techniques [verb (transitive)] > scan > cause beam to traverse an area
scan1960
1960 E. V. Truefitt in R. F. Hansford Radio Aids to Civil Aviation v. 328 The nodding heightfinder is so called because the aerial performs a nodding motion which scans the radar beam in elevation.
1972 Sci. Amer. Nov. 40/3 The beam is positioned and focused by scanning the beam over the sample surface and detecting the change in the emission of secondary and reflected electrons as the beam passes over surface detail.
1973 Meyer & Mayer Radar Target Detection i. 15/1 If the antenna is scanned sufficiently slowly, more than one pulse may be transmitted and received while the antenna beam sweeps across a given reflecting point.
1976 Physics Bull. Oct. 437/1 The proton beam was scanned right across the annulus and hole.
1977 Sci. Amer. Sept. 123/3 A much smaller area..is exposed, and the exposure is repeated by either stepping or scanning the image over the wafer.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > upward movement > ascend (something) [verb (transitive)] > climb up or scale
climba1000
speel1571
scale1579
upclimb1582
scana1599
scance1714
a1599 E. Spenser Canto Mutabilitie vi. viii, in Faerie Queene (1609) sig. Hh4v Whose siluer gates..She entred,..Ne staide till she the highest stage had scand.
Derivatives
scanned adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [adjective] > scannable
scanned1567
scannable1828
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical skills and techniques > [adjective] > subjected to scanning
scanned1937
1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Hiiijv As thou in lawfull scanned vearse Canste well descryue a thinge.
1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 64 When once they can in true skan'd verses frame A braue Encomium of good Vertues name.
1937 Proc. London Math. Soc. 42 231 We may call this square the ‘scanned square’.
1953 S. W. Amos & D. C. Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. iv. 52 To avoid keystone effect and obtain a true rectangular scanned area, the line saw-tooth current is modulated by the field saw-tooth current so that the angular sweep in the horizontal plane is decreased as the beam moves up the mosaic.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xx. 8 Color television standards use the back porch to position the color burst, an eight-cycle burst of color subcarrier..that synchronizes the color-subcarrier oscillator at the end of each scanned line.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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