scan

scan  /skn/   (scans, scanning, scanned)
 
1. VERB
When you scan written material, you look through it quickly in order to find important or interesting information.
    She scanned the advertisement pages of the newspapers.
    I haven't read much into it as yet. I've only just scanned through it.

   Scan is also a noun. N-SING
    I just had a quick scan through your book again.

2. VERB : no passive
When you scan a place or group of people, you look at it carefully, usually because you are looking for something or someone.
    The officer scanned the room.
    She was nervous and kept scanning the crowd for Paul.
    He raised the binoculars to his eye again, scanning across the scene.

3. VERB
If people scan something such as luggage, they examine it using a machine that can show or find things inside it that cannot be seen from the outside.
    Their approach is to scan every checked-in bag with a bomb detector.

scanning N-UNCOUNT
    routine scanning of luggage.

4. VERB
If a computer disk is scanned, a program on the computer checks the disk to make sure that it does not contain a virus.[ COMPUTING ]
    The disk has no virusesI've scanned it already.

5. VERB : usu passive
If a picture or document is scanned into a computer, a machine passes a beam of light over it to make a copy of it in the computer.[ COMPUTING ]
    The entire paper contents of all libraries will eventually be scanned into computers.
    Designs can also be scanned in from paper.

6. VERB
If a radar or sonar machine scans an area, it examines or searches it by sending radar or sonar beams over it.
    The ship's radar scanned the sea ahead.

7. N-COUNT : usu with supp
A scan is a medical test in which a machine sends a beam of X-rays over a part of your body in order to check that it is healthy.
    He was rushed to hospital for a brain scan.

8. N-COUNT
If a pregnant woman has a scan, a machine using sound waves produces an image of her womb on a screen so that a doctor can see if her baby is developing normally.

9. VERB : usu with brd-neg
If a line of a poem does not scan, it is not the right length or does not have emphasis in the right places to match the rest of the poem.
    He had written a few poems. Sid told him they didn't scan.