scan

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
scan/skan/

▶verb (scans, scanning, scanned)

• 1 look at quickly in order to identify relevant features or information.

• 2 traverse with a detector or an electromagnetic beam, especially to obtain an image.

  ■ cause (a beam) to traverse across a surface or object.

  ■ resolve (a picture) into its elements of light and shade in a prearranged pattern for the purposes of television transmission.

  ■ convert (a document or picture) into digital form for storage or processing on a computer.

• 3 analyse the metre of (a line of verse) by reading with appropriate intonation or by examining the pattern of feet or syllables.

  ■ (of verse) conform to metrical principles.

▶noun

• 1 an act of scanning.

• 2 a medical examination using a scanner.

  ■ an image obtained by scanning or with a scanner.

– derivatives
scannable adjective.

– origin ME: from L. scandere ‘climb’ (in late L. ‘scan (verses)’), by analogy with the raising and lowering of one's foot when marking rhythm; later arose the senses ‘analyse’ and ‘look at searchingly’.