Dictionary definition · scan
noun
- the act of scanning; systematic examination of a prescribed region"he made a thorough scan of the beach with his binoculars"
- an image produced by scanning"he analyzed the brain scan"
verb
- examine minutely or intensely"the surgeon scanned the X-ray"
- examine hastily"She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi"
- make a wide, sweeping search of"The beams scanned the night sky"
- conform to a metrical pattern
- move a light beam over; in electronics, to reproduce an image
- read metrically"scan verses"
- obtain data from magnetic tapes or other digital sources"This dictionary can be read by the computer"
Source: Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).