# scan

Pronunciation: say "SKAN" /skæn/

## Verb

1. To look over a place or group quickly while searching for someone or something.
   - Simple: To look around a place or group quickly to find someone or something.
   - _He scanned the horizon for any sign of the missing boat._
   - _Drivers scan the road ahead for hazards._
2. To produce an image of something by means of a scanner.
   - Simple: To make a digital picture of something using a scanner.
   - _The technician scanned the patient's chest to check for fractures._
   - _We scan old film negatives to preserve them digitally._
3. To inspect, analyze, or go over something, often to find something in particular.
   - Simple: To look over something carefully to find what you need.
   - _Security software scans every file for known threats._
   - _Inspectors scan the bridge for cracks after each winter._
4. To read something using an electronic device.
   - Simple: To read something like a barcode using a machine.
   - _Shoppers scan the QR code to view the menu._
   - _The reader scanned her badge and unlocked the door._
7. To examine something carefully, critically, or step by step; to scrutinize.
   - Simple: To look at something very carefully and closely.
   - _She scanned the contract line by line before signing._
   - _Experts scan each painting closely to detect forgeries._
10. To read or mark a line of verse so as to show its specific meter.
   - Simple: To read a line of poetry to show its rhythm and beats.
   - _She scanned the sonnet to reveal its iambic pattern._
   - _Pupils scan each line to mark the stressed and unstressed syllables._
11. Of a line of verse, to conform to a metrical structure.
   - Simple: To fit a regular rhythm or beat, said of a line of poetry.
   - _The couplet scans perfectly in iambic pentameter._
   - _Several lines fail to scan because of an extra syllable._
12. To perform lexical analysis on text; to break it into tokens.
   - Simple: To break written code or text into small pieces a computer can read one by one.
   - _The lexer scans the source file and emits a stream of tokens._
   - _First the tools scan the input, then they parse it._

## Noun

5. The image or output produced by a scanner.
   - Simple: The picture or file produced after a scanner copies something.
   - _The scan revealed a hairline fracture in the wrist._
   - _Radiologists compared the new scan with last year's images._
6. A single occasion on which something is examined or imaged in one pass.
   - Simple: A single time that something is checked or imaged by a scanner.
   - _The patient underwent a full-body scan before surgery._
   - _The technician ran a second scan to confirm the first._
8. A careful, thorough reading of something.
   - Simple: A close, careful reading of something.
   - _A thorough scan of the report revealed several errors._
   - _He gave the contract a careful scan before signing it._
9. A quick, cursory reading; a skim.
   - Simple: A quick reading that skips over the details, like a skim.
   - _A quick scan of the headlines told him the gist._
   - _She gave the email a brief scan and moved on._
13. A higher-order function that applies a binary operation across a sequence, starting from an initial accumulator, and returns the sequence of intermediate results.
   - Simple: A programming tool that goes through a list and keeps a running result at each step.
   - _A scan over the list produces every partial sum along the way._
   - _Unlike a fold, a scan returns all the intermediate results._

## Verb

14. To climb by steps; to go through something step by step. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To climb or go through something one step at a time.

## Origin

This comes from late Middle English scanne, "to mark off verse to show metrical structure," from Late Latin scandere ("to scan verse"). That in turn came from Classical Latin scandō ("I climb, rise, mount"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *skend- ("to jump, dart, climb, scan").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/scan (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).