I. scan 1 /skæn/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle scanned , present participle scanning )
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Late Latin ; Origin: scandere , from Latin , 'to climb' ]
1 . LOOK AT [transitive] to examine an area carefully but quickly, often because you are looking for a particular person or thing:
He scanned the horizon, but there was no sign of the ship.
She scanned his face, looking for signs of what he was thinking.
Video cameras scanned the car park.
scan something for something
I scanned the street for people I knew.
2 . READ [intransitive and transitive] ( also scan through ) to read something quickly SYN skim
scan something for something
I scanned the page for her name.
She scanned through the paper.
3 . SEE INSIDE [transitive] if a machine scans something, it passes an electrical beam over it to form a picture of what is inside it ⇨ scanner :
All luggage has to be scanned at the airport.
They scanned his brain for signs of damage.
4 . COMPUTER [transitive] if you scan a document or picture, you put it into a machine attached to a computer so that the information in the document can be taken into the computer and stored there ⇨ scanner
scan something into something
You scan the text into the computer, then edit it.
5 . POETRY [intransitive] technical poetry that scans has a correct regular pattern of beats
II. scan 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [countable] a medical test in which a special machine produces a picture of something inside your body:
The scan showed that she was expecting twins.
a brain scan
2 . [singular] when you read something quickly
scan of
a quick scan of the newspapers