noun
- a light, movable, covered frame or series of frames hinged together, serving as a portable partition to separate, conceal, shelter, or protect
- any partition or curtain serving such a purpose
- anything that functions to shield, protect, or conceal: a smoke screen
- a coarse mesh of wire, etc., used to sift out finer from coarser parts, as of sand or coal; sieve
- a system for screening or separating different types of persons, etc.
- a frame covered with a mesh, as of wire or plastic, used to keep insects out, serve as a barrier, etc. as on a window
- a flat, reflective or translucent surface, as a matte white sheet or one of beaded vinyl, upon which films, slides, etc. are projected
- the film industry or art
- the surface area of a television set, personal computer, radar receiver, etc. on which light patterns are formed
- any protective military formation, as of troops or ships
- ☆ Basketball an offensive maneuver or play in which a stationary player blocks or impedes the movement of a defensive player
- ☆ Football screen pass
- Photoengraving in the halftone process, a set of two glass plates cemented together so that parallel lines engraved in one plate are at right angles to the lines of the other plate
- Physics a device used as a shield to prevent interference of some sort
- ☆ Psychoanalysis a form of concealment, as a person in a dream who stands for another or others with whom he has some characteristics in common
Origin:
ME skrene, sieve, curtain < OFr escren < Gmc, as in OHG scerm (Ger shirm), guard, protection, screen < IE base *(s)ker-, to cut > shear, score
intransitive verb
to be screened or suitable for screening, as in films