See Also: MRI Scan (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scan)(health)
Multigated Acquisition Scan (MUGA scan)(health)
Rbc-scan(health)
PET scan(health)
CAT scan(medicine)
Cea-scan(health)
CT scan(health)
scan(medicine)
CAT scan(health)
ct scan(medicine)

scan (iou)



scan verb & noun. [skan] LME.
[Late Latin use of Latin scandere climb, in the sense 'scan (a verse)', with allus. to raising and lowering the foot to mark rhythm.]
A. verb. Infl. -nn-.
I.
a. verb trans. Analyse (a line etc. of verse) by determining the nature and number of the component feet or the number and prosodic value of the syllables; test the metrical correctness of (a verse) as by rhythmically emphatic recitation. Also (rare), describe prosodically (a word or sequence of words). LME.
b. verb intrans. Admit of being scanned; be metrically correct. M19.
F. A. Paley The lines will neither scan nor construe like ordinary verses.
verb trans. Criticize; judge the correctness or value of. M16-E19.
verb trans. Investigate or consider minutely. M16.
C. Darwin Man scans with scrupulous care, the..pedigree of his horses before he matches them.
verb trans. Interpret, assign a meaning to (a word, an action, etc.). M16-M17.
verb trans. Perceive, discern. Now rare or obsolete. M16.
J. Beattie One part..we dimly scan Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream.
verb trans.
a. Look at or over intently or quickly; spec. search through (a text, list, etc.) for particular information or features. L18.
E. Wharton Mr Rosedale stood scanning her with interest. J. Barth Scanning the audience, I saw almost no unfamiliar faces. P. P. Read His eyes scanned the columns of criticism..and came to rest on a review.
b. Cause (an area, object, or image) to be systematically traversed by a beam or detector; convert (an image) into a linear sequence of signals in this way for transmission or processing; spec. in Medicine, produce an image of a surface or cross-section of (the body or part of it) using a scanner; examine (a patient etc.) with a scanner. E20.
c. Traverse or analyse (an element of an image etc.) as part of the scanning of the larger whole. M20.
d. Cause (a beam etc.) systematically to traverse an area; cause (an aerial) to rotate or oscillate for this purpose. M20.
verb intrans. Carry out scanning. M20.
N. Shute Every technical paper that one scans through quickly. Physics Bulletin The beam repeatedly scans across the faceplate.
II. verb trans. Climb. rare (Spenser). Only in L16.
b. noun.
The action or an instance of scanning; close scrutiny; a sweeping search through a text etc. Also (now rare or obsolete), perception, discernment. E18.
G. Washington What will be the end of these manoeuvres is beyond my scan. J. Gardner His first duty of the day was..a quick scan of all the British..papers. L. Deighton The preliminary scan..showed Kleiber was a one-time employee of the CIA.
A single line or traverse of a beam, detector, etc., forming part of a systematic scanning action. Also, an entire raster. M20.
An image, diagram, etc., obtained by (esp. medical) scanning. M20.
Comb.: scan-column index a tabular representation of coded information concerning or contained in a set of documents, for use in information retrieval.