From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm. An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skrank, from Proto-Germanic *skrankaz.
A physical divider intended to block an area from view, or provide shelter from something dangerous.
a fire screen
Your leavy screens throw down.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:
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There is also great use of ambitious men in being screens to princes in matters of danger and envy1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Ambition”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
› A material woven from fine wires intended to…
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Business, Mining, Quarrying A frame supporting a mesh of bars or wires used to classify fragments of stone by size, allowing the passage of fragments whose a diameter is smaller than the distance between the bars or wires.
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Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects
Jones caught the foul up against the screen.
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Media, Printing, Publishing A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.
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Searching through a sample for a target; an act of screening, or the method for it.
a drug screen, a genetic screen
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Biology, Genetics, Medicine, Natural sciences, Sciences A technique used to identify genes so as to study gene functions.
› Various forms or formats of information display
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The viewing surface or area of a movie, or moving picture or slide presentation.
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
› Various forms or formats of information display › The viewing surface or area of a movie, or…
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Broadly A room in a cinema.
› Various forms or formats of information display
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The informational viewing area of electronic devices, where output is displayed.
You won't find me living for the screen […] I ain't equipment I ain't automatic1977, Sex Pistols, Spunk, “Problems” (song)
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One of the individual regions of a video game, etc. divided into separate screens.
The idea is to reach the 21st level of an enormous network of interlocking screens, each of which is covered with blocks that you bounce along on.1988, Marcus Berkmann, Sophistry (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 30, June 1988
Bub and Bob, the brontosaur buddies, must battle bullies by bursting their bubbles. One or two players can move through 100 screens of arcade-style graphics.1989, Compute, volume 11, page 51:
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The visualised data or imagery displayed on a computer screen.
After you turn on the computer, the login screen appears.
Clicking the Edit button sends you to a screen where you can change the name and description.
Ball games, Basketball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
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Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to make the ball more easily visible.
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Nautical, Transport A collection of less-valuable vessels that travel with a more valuable one for the latter's protection.
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Architecture A dwarf wall or partition carried up to a certain height for separation and protection, as in a church, to separate the aisle from the choir, etc.
From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm. An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skrank, from Proto-Germanic *skrankaz.
Passenger baggage was screened by X-ray to look for weapons.
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To shelter or conceal.
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To remove information, or censor intellectual material from viewing. To hide the facts.
The news report was screened because it accused the politician of wrongdoing.
"It were dishonour in me to yield. I will not play the part of an impostor, whom my uncle must despise even while he screens. No; these estates are his right: let him take them; I will not buy them with his daughter's hand."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Consent”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 153:
The news report will be screened at 11:00 tonight.
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To fit with a screen.
We need to screen this porch. These bugs are driving me crazy.
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Medicine, Sciences To examine patients or treat a sample in order to detect a chemical or a disease or to assess susceptibility to a disease.
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To search chemical libraries by means of a computational technique in order to identify chemical compounds which would potentially bind to a given biological target such as a protein.
To determine the source or subject matter of a call before deciding whether to answer the phone.
A Phone to Screen Calls1987 April 7, Associated Press (story title as printed in New York Timeshttps://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/07/business/a-phone-to-screen-calls.html)
If you screen your calls as a time management technique, try this message: I'm not near my phone right now, but I should be able to return calls after 3:30.2012 January 15, Essentials of Business Communication, →ISBN, page 343:
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The new phones can take pictures, screen calls and even make calls on their own.2018 October 10, “The Daily 202”, in The Washington Post: