Etymology From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).
To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
She scanned the passage carefully but could not find what she was looking for.
He scanned the horizon.
3 more examples
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.1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter ii
Slowly, he scanned the horizon, listening, watching for the signs he had been taught.1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book III: The Prophet”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 385:
As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing - a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
2
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To inspect, analyse or go over, often to find something.
to scan the hard drive for errors
3
To look about for; to look over quickly.
4
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To perform lexical analysis; to tokenize.
In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Network News: TPE MD: consider impact of strikes on passengers”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 11:
7
Obsolete To mount by steps; to go through with step by step.
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,[…]1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXIII, page 36:
In such cases as these, almost any one with a good ear will "scan" the verse correctly enough without instruction. It is not proposed to give here a list of Shakspere's slurred and contracted words; […]1886, Francis Barton Gummere, A Handbook of Poetics for Students of English Verse, page 218:
You're right, sir, it doesn't scan very well in the English, but in the Gaelic it's sheer poetry. Have you the Gaelic?1998, Milton Acorn, Cedric Smith, edited by James Deahl, The Road to Charlottetown: A Play, UnMon Northland:
Etymology From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“to climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).
In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Network News: TPE MD: consider impact of strikes on passengers”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 11:
4
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The result or output of a scanning process.
The doctors looked at the scans and made a diagnosis.
5
A higher-order function that applies a binary operation to a sequence of values, starting with an accumulator, and returns a new sequence with the results.