What is Scan ?

Scan is (verb) 1. to look very carefully at something all over We scanned the hori- zon but no ships were to be seen. He scanned the map to try to find Cambridge Road. 2. to pass a radar beam over an area First they scanned the right side of the brain. 3. to pass X-rays through part of the body The hospital has decided to re-examine all patients who have been scanned over the last year. 4. to examine a drawing ortext and produce computer data from it electronically They scanned thetext of the book using a hand-held scanner. 5. to analyse a line of po- etry to identify the rhythm Some modern poetry is impossible to scan. 6. (of poetry) to fit a regular rhythm The second line of the poem doesn’t scan. (NOTE: scanning – scanned)(noun) 1. the examination of part of the body by passing X-rays through the body and analysing the result in a computer She went to have a scan after ten weeks of pregnancy. 2. a picture of part of the body shown on a screen, derived by computers from X-rays 3. the examination of an image or an object to obtain data A heat scan will quickly show which component is overheating.


source: Easier English, Student Dictionary Upper Intermediate Level