SCAN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Scan

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/skæn/ Listen

verb

Scan v. t. (past & past part. scanned; pres. part. scanning)

To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. (Obs.) "Nor stayed till she the highest stage had scand."

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.

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."

To examine quickly, from point to point, in search of something specific; as, to scan an article for mention of a particular person.

(Electronics) To form an image or an electronic representation of, by passing a beam of light or electrons over, and detecting and recording the reflected or transmitted signal.

See images of 'Scan'

Etymology of 'Scan'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scan" Quotes from Famous Books

... to me to listen to their hoof-beats dying rapidly away behind us as we turned back down the dark road, the Sergeant still riding with his one hand grasping the stranger's rein. I endeavored to scan her figure in the blackness, but found the effort useless, as little more than a shadow was visible. Yet it was impressed upon me that she sat straight and firm in the saddle, so I concluded she must be young. Rapidly I reviewed our predicament, and sought for some avenue of ...

— My Lady of the North • Randall Parrish

... had brought Shashai to the doorstep, and who had been staring popeyed during the conversation, dashed away toward the paddock, to rush upon Shelby with a wild tale of "dat lady f'om de norf was a-sassin' Missie Peggy jist scan'lous and orderin' Shelby fer to come quick ter ...

— Peggy Stewart at School • Gabrielle E. Jackson

... up. The tune was simple and he knew it well, but even as he played his eye wandered from the sheet before him to scan the merry throng below. ...

— Heiress of Haddon • William E. Doubleday

... unhearing, then slowly rose and looked down at the planks he had been sitting on, seemingly seeing them for the first time. Then he continued the survey, letting his eyes, already bloodshot with excitement and misery, scan the narrow place. ...

— Joyce's Investments - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... hang here and there above the gorge hold in their rugged rock sculpture no facial similitudes, no suggestions. The jagged outlines of shelving bluffs delineate no gigantic profile against the sky beyond. One might seek far and near, and scan the vast slope with alert and expectant gaze, and view naught of the semblance that from time immemorial has given the mountain its name. Yet the imagination needs but scant aid when suddenly the elusive simulacrum is revealed to the eye. In ...

— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock

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