noun
- a person or thing that scans.
- optical scanner.See under optical scanning.
- Photography. any device for exposing an image on film, a sensitized plate, etc., by tracing light along a series of many closely spaced parallel lines.
- (in aerial photography) a device for estimating the ratio of aircraft speed to aircraft altitude.
- a photoelectric device for scanning a picture to determine automatically the density of the hue or value in each area for transmission by wire or radio or for preparation of color process printing plates.
- a computer-aided electronic system using photoelectric cells to separate copy, as color illustrations, into its primary colors, correct color copy, and produce a set of color separations ready for proofing or printing.
- Radio. a radio receiver, used especially by police, firefighters, and the press, that continuously tunes to preselected frequencies, broadcasting any signal that it detects.
- Medicine/Medical, Biology. a device for examining a body, organ, tissue, or other biologically active material.
noun
- a person or thing that scans
- a device, usually electronic, used to measure or sample the distribution of some quantity or condition in a particular system, region, or area
- an aerial or similar device designed to transmit or receive signals, esp radar signals, inside a given solid angle of space, thus allowing a particular region to be scanned
- any of various devices used in medical diagnosis to obtain an image of an internal organ or partSee CAT scanner, nuclear magnetic resonance scanner, ultrasound scanner
- informal a television outside broadcast vehicle
- short for optical scanner
- printing an electronic device which scans printed material and converts it to digital form
n.1550s, “person who examines critically,” agent noun from scan (v.). From 1927 as a type of mechanical device, in mid-20c. use especially of radar and medical devices; later of computer accessories.