 |
| Date: | 1300-1400 |
| Language: | Late Latin |
| Origin: | scandere, from Latin, 'to climb' |
| |||||||||
Related topics:scan1
past tense and past participle scanned, present participle scanning
past tense and past participle scanned, present participle scanning1 to examine an area carefully but quickly, often because you are looking for a particular person or thing : 
He scanned the horizon, but there was no sign of the ship.She scanned his face, looking for signs of what he was thinking. Video cameras scanned the car park.
look at
[transitive]He scanned the horizon, but there was no sign of the ship.She scanned his face, looking for signs of what he was thinking.Video cameras scanned the car park.2 to read something quickly [= skim]She scanned through the paper.
read
also scan through [transitive] scan something for something I scanned the page for her name.
I scanned the page for her name.She scanned through the paper.3 if a machine scans something, it passes an electrical beam over it to form a picture of what is inside it [↪ scanner]: All luggage has to be scanned at the airport. They scanned his brain for signs of damage.
see inside
[transitive]TEEAll luggage has to be scanned at the airport.They scanned his brain for signs of damage.4TD if you scan a document or picture, you put it into a machine attached to a computer so that the information in the document can be taken into the computer and stored there [↪ scanner]
computer
[transitive]5 poetry that scans has a correct regular pattern of beats
poetry
[intransitive] technicalWORD FOCUS: read WORD FOCUS: read
to read parts of something: dip into, flick/leaf through, browse through
to read something quickly: skim, scan
to read something carefully: pore over, scrutinize
to read something long and boring: plough through British English/plow through American English, wade through
clear enough to read: legible
not clear enough to read: illegible
someone who is unable to read: illiterate
someone who likes reading very much: bookworm
➔ See also read
WORD FOCUS: read to read parts of something: dip into, flick/leaf through, browse through
to read something quickly: skim, scan
to read something carefully: pore over, scrutinize
to read something long and boring: plough through British English/plow through American English, wade through
clear enough to read: legible
not clear enough to read: illegible
someone who is unable to read: illiterate
someone who likes reading very much: bookworm
➔ See also read
