transitive verb scanned, scanning
- to analyze (verse) in terms of its rhythmic components, as by counting accents and syllables and marking the metrical feet
- to look at closely or in a broad, searching way; scrutinize
- ☆ to glance at quickly; consider hastily
- to examine, identify, or interpret (printed characters, video images, bar codes, etc.): said of an electronic device
- Comput. to examine (items in a file) in sequence in order to find those that meet a particular criterion
- Med. to examine the structure or condition of an internal body organ with ultrasound, tomography, etc.
- Electronics to traverse (a region) with a succession of transmitted radar beams, usually radiated in a systematic pattern
- TV to traverse (a surface) rapidly and point by point with a beam of light or electrons in transmitting or reproducing the lights and shades of an image
Origin:
ME scannen < L scandere, to climb, mount (in LL, to scan): see descend