scan /skæn/verb 9noun 6forms 3 verb9 •to move the eyes slowly over the whole of something, checking each part in turnShe scanned the passage carefully but could not find what she was looking for.He scanned the horizon. •To inspect, analyse or go over, often to find something.to scan the hard drive for errors •To create an image of something with the use of a scanner.to scan internal organs by means of computed tomographyPencil drawings don't scan very well. •To read with an electronic device. •To look about for; to look over quickly. •To 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 •To read or mark so as to show a specific metre. •To perform lexical analysis; to tokenize. •(no longer used) To 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 noun6 •An instance of scanning.The operators vacated the room during the scan. •The result or output of a scanning process.The doctors looked at the scans and made a diagnosis. •A close investigation. •Of written things, a careful reading. •Of written things, a cursory reading: a skim. •A 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. formsscanned · scanning · scans
