scan

present singular third person scans · participle present scanning · participle past scanned · past scanned

1. transitiveTo examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.First known use 16th C.

   He scanned the horizon.

   4 more examples

   She scanned the passage carefully but could not find what she was looking for.

   Yet the incident did not in the least diminish my respect for my teacher. I was by nature blind to the faults of elders. Later I came to know of many other failings of this teacher, but my regard for him remained the same. For I had learnt to carry out the orders of elders, not to scan their actions.

   1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter ii

   Slowly, he scanned the horizon, listening, watching for the signs he had been taught.

   1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book III: The Prophet”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 385

   As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing - a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

   1. transitivecomputingTo inspect, analyse or go over, often to find something.

      to scan the hard drive for errors

2. transitiveTo look about for; to look over quickly.First known use 19th C.
   1. transitivecomputingTo perform lexical analysis; to tokenize.
3. transitivecomputingTo create an image of something with the use of a scanner.

   to scan a photograph

   2 more examples

   to scan internal organs by means of computed tomography

   Pencil drawings don't scan very well.

4. transitivecomputingTo read with an electronic device.

   to scan a barcode

   2 more examples

   to scan a QR code

   In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.

   2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Network News: TPE MD: consider impact of strikes on passengers”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 11

5. obsoletetransitiveoriginallyTo mount by steps; to go through with step by step.

   But ere these matchless heights I dare to scan, / There is a spot should not be pass'd in vain,— / Morat ! the proud, the patriot field ! where man / May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain,[…]

   1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXIII, page 36

6. transitivecommunicationsTo read or mark so as to show a specific metre.First known use 14th C.

   In such cases as these, almost any one with a good ear will "scan" the verse correctly enough without instruction. It is not proposed to give here a list of Shakspere's slurred and contracted words; […]

   1886, Francis Barton Gummere, A Handbook of Poetics for Students of English Verse, page 218

7. intransitivecommunicationsTo conform to a metrical structure.

   You're right, sir, it doesn't scan very well in the English, but in the Gaelic it's sheer poetry. Have you the Gaelic?

   1998, Milton Acorn, Cedric Smith, edited by James Deahl, The Road to Charlottetown: A Play, UnMon Northland

plural scans

1. A close investigation.
   1. Of written things, a careful reading.First known use 1700s

      Synonyms: perusal

   2. Of written things, a cursory reading: a skim.First known use 1700s

      Synonyms: perusal

2. computingAn instance of scanning.

   The operators vacated the room during the scan.

   1 more example

   In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.

   2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Network News: TPE MD: consider impact of strikes on passengers”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 11

3. computingThe result or output of a scanning process.

   The doctors looked at the scans and made a diagnosis.

4. functional programmingA higher-order function that applies a binary operation to a sequence of values, starting with an accumulator, and returns a new sequence with the results.