• IPA: /skæn/

scan (scans, present participle scanning; past and past participle scanned)

1. (poetry, transitive) To read or mark so as to show a specific meter. [from 14th C.]

   to scan verse

   1. (intransitive) To conform to a metrical structure.

   • quote en

2. (transitive) To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely. [from 16th C.]

   She scanned the passage carefully but could not find what she was looking for.

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter ii ↗:

     Yet the incident did not in the least diminish my respect for my teacher. I was by nature blind to the faults of elders. Later I came to know of many other failings of this teacher, but my regard for him remained the same. For I had learnt to carry out the orders of elders, not to scan their actions.

3. (transitive) To look about for; to look over quickly. [from 19th C.]

   He scanned the horizon.

   1. (computing, transitive) To inspect, analyze or go over, often to find something.

      to scan the hard drive for errors

   2. (computing, transitive) To perform lexical analysis; to tokenize.
4. (computing, transitive) To create a digital copy of an image using a scanner.

   to scan a photograph

   Pencil drawings don't scan very well.

5. (computing, transitive) To read with an electronic device.

   to scan a barcode; to scan a QR code

6. (obsolete, transitive, originally) To mount by steps; to go through with step by step.
   • 1816, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], OCLC 1015450009 ↗, canto III, stanza LXIII, page 36 ↗:

     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,{{...}

• (poetry) scansion

• French: scanner, fouiller
• Italian: scrutare
• Portuguese: varrer
• Russian: разгля́дывать
• Spanish: escrutar

• French: scanner, numériser, scannériser
• German: scannen, abtasten, einscannen
• Italian: scannerizzare
• Portuguese: escanear, digitalizar
• Russian: скани́ровать
• Spanish: escanear

• French: scander
• German: skandieren
• Italian: scandire
• Portuguese: escandir
• Russian: скандировать
• Spanish: escandir

scan (plural scans)

1. Close investigation. [from 1700s]
2. (computing) An instance of scanning.

   The operators vacated the room during the scan.

3. (computing) The result or output of a scanning process.

   The doctors looked at the scans and made a diagnosis.

• German: Abtastung, Scan
• Italian: scansione
• Portuguese: varredura

• French: scan
• German: Scan
• Russian: скан