to glance at or over or read hastily: to scan a page.
to examine the particulars or points of minutely; scrutinize.
to peer out at or observe repeatedly or sweepingly, as a large expanse; survey.
to analyze (verse) as to its prosodic or metrical structure; read or recite (verse) so as to indicate or test the metrical form.
to read (data) for use by a computer or computerized device, especially using an optical scanner.
Television. to traverse (a surface) with a beam of light or electrons in order to reproduce or transmit a picture.
Radar. to traverse (a region) with a beam from a radar transmitter.
Medicine/Medical, Biology. to examine (a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material) with a scanner.
verb (used without object),scanned,scan·ning.
to examine the meter of verse.
(of verse) to conform to the rules of meter.
Television. to scan a surface or the like.
noun
an act or instance of scanning; close examination.
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.
a particular image or frame in such video observation or a photograph made from it.
Medicine/Medical, Biology.
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.
the image or display so obtained.
Origin of scan
1350–1400; Middle English scannen, variant of *scanden<Late Latin scandere to scan verse, Latin: to climb (see ascend)
As you are doing a scan, you see examples of real hearts, comparing the scan you just acquired to hearts with varying degrees of contraction, an indication of heart function.
Training clinicians to spot heart failure in covid-19 patients|Tate Ryan-Mosley|August 19, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Currently, scans frequently take more than half an hour, and children are often sedated or anesthetized to help doctors capture good images.
Facebook and NYU researchers discover a way to speed up MRI scans|Jeremy Kahn|August 18, 2020|Fortune
These products film students in their homes and often require them to complete “room scans,” which involve using their camera to show their surroundings.
Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy|Amy Nordrum|August 7, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Brain scans have detected the so-called “neural correlates” of breakfast, neuronal activity correlated with, say the consumption of a cantaloupe.
The Hard Problem of Breakfast - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Jonathan Bines|August 5, 2020|Nautilus
In April, astronauts on board the space station successfully used the software to perform kidney and bladder ultrasound scans without help from ground control.
What will astronauts need to survive the dangerous journey to Mars?|Maria Temming|July 15, 2020|Science News
Prince William was seen clutching an envelope, when they left, most likely containing images of the scan.
Royal Baby Due In April|Tom Sykes|October 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If this was indeed the 12-week scan, we wil probably soon get an announcement from the palace concerning Kate's due date.
Kate Middleton Pictured Leaving Clinic: New Privacy Row|Tom Sykes|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So we need to think about the risk-benefit ratio of every scan we do.
Are Routine Scans Causing Cancer?|Dale Eisinger|September 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Lately, Richard Dawkins seems to scan the world for sore spots, take a good poke, and revel in the ensuing outcry.
Richard Dawkins Would Fail Philosophy 101|Elizabeth Picciuto|August 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Though the words may sound and scan the same, there is a world of difference in threat each poses to others.
It’s Not Time to Worry About China’s Plague Just Yet|Kent Sepkowitz|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The only thing is that locally Chintonbury is probably pronounced Chun'bury, in which case it will not scan.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, June 2, 1920|Various
Jinnie brought to mind some of the vivid pictures, and shyly lifted a pair of violet eyes to scan the face above her.
Rose O'Paradise|Grace Miller White
The eyes which she lifted to scan the bright young face above her had something like agony in them.
A Mountain Woman and Others|(AKA Elia Wilkinson) Elia W. Peattie
There is not one of the young heroes of the Commencement hour whom those elders do not scan with knowledge.
From the Easy Chair, series 2|George William Curtis
The figures were so large that Bob's eyes seemed as though they would pop out of his head, so eagerly did they scan them.
Bob Chester's Grit|Frank V. Webster
British Dictionary definitions for scan
scan
/ (skæn) /
verbscans, scanningorscanned
(tr)to scrutinize minutely
(tr)to glance over quickly
(tr)prosodyto read or analyse (verse) according to the rules of metre and versification
(intr)prosodyto conform to the rules of metre and versification
(tr)electronicsto move a beam of light, electrons, etc, in a predetermined pattern over (a surface or region) to obtain information, esp either to sense and transmit or to reproduce a television image
(tr)to examine data stored on (magnetic tape, etc), usually in order to retrieve information
to examine or search (a prescribed region) by systematically varying the direction of a radar or sonar beam
physicsto examine or produce or be examined or produced by a continuous charge of some variableto scan a spectrum
medto obtain an image of (a part of the body) by means of a scanner
noun
the act or an instance of scanning
med
the examination of a part of the body by means of a scannera brain scan; ultrasound scan
the image produced by a scanner
Derived forms of scan
scannable, adjective
Word Origin for scan
C14: from Late Latin scandere to scan (verse), from Latin: to climb
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.
To examine a body or a body part with a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
To search stored computer data automatically for specific data.
n.
The act or an instance of scanning.
Examination of a body or body part by a CAT scanner or similar scanning apparatus.
A picture or an image that is produced by this means.