scan

I UK [skæn] / US verb
Word forms "scan":
present tense I/you/we/they scan he/she/it scans present participle scanning past tense scanned past participle scanned
**

1) [transitive] to look at something very carefully, because you hope or expect to see a particular person or thing

He scanned her face but there were no signs of emotion.

scan something for someone/something:

Ella scanned the crowd for any sign of Geoff.

anxiously/eagerly scan something:

The pilot was anxiously scanning the sky for other air traffic.

a) scan or scan through

[intransitive/transitive] to read something very quickly, in order to get a general idea of its meaning or to find particular information

Merrill opened the letter, scanned it briefly, and threw it away.

Tony scanned through the television programmes in the local newspaper.

scan something for something:

She scanned the paper for any news of them.

b) [intransitive/transitive] if a machine or computer program scans something, it examines it in order to look for a particular thing

A program is supplied which scans for viruses and removes them.

Every fifty metres there was a camera scanning the road.

c) [transitive] to examine an area using sonar or radar equipment in order to find objects in it

The spacecraft scans the Earth's oceans with radar instruments.

2)

a) [intransitive/transitive] to use a piece of equipment to read and store information in digital form

You can use photographs and then scan them onto your computer.

His job was to scan barcodes in the store.

scan in something (= scan something and store it in your computer):

You can scan in a photograph of your home.

scan something into something:

Documents are scanned into a computer and then converted to electronic form.

b) if a piece of equipment scans a document, photograph etc, it changes it into a form that can be stored in a computer

A printer that can fax, scan, and copy saves space.

3) [transitive] to use a piece of equipment to produce a picture of the inside of a part of your body

In one test, the subjects' brains were scanned while they read to themselves.

a) to use a piece of equipment to produce a picture of the inside of an object

He waited while the X-ray machine scanned his luggage.

b) to use a piece of equipment to see the developing baby in a pregnant woman

4) [intransitive] literature if poetry scans, it has a regular rhythm (= pattern of beats)

These are poems that neither rhyme nor scan.

II UK [skæn] / US noun [countable]
Word forms "scan":
singular scan plural scans
*

1)

a) a medical test that uses a special piece of equipment to produce a picture of the inside of your body

a brain scan

b) a medical test that uses a special piece of equipment to produce a picture of a developing baby inside a pregnant woman

2) an act of reading something very quickly, in order to get a general idea of its meaning or to find particular information

a quick scan of the morning post