screen

[skreen] /skrin/
noun
1.
a movable or fixed device, usually consisting of a covered frame, that provides shelter, serves as a partition, etc.
2.
a permanent, usually ornamental partition, as around the choir of a church or across the hall of a medieval house.
3.
a specially prepared, light-reflecting surface on which motion pictures, slides, etc., may be projected.
4.
motion pictures collectively or the motion-picture industry.
5.
Electronics, Television. the external surface of the large end of a cathode-ray tube of a television set, radar receiver, etc., on which an electronically created picture or image is formed.
6.
Computers.
  1. Also called video screen. the portion of a terminal or monitor upon which information is displayed.
  2. frame (def 10).
7.
anything that shelters, protects, or conceals:
a screen of secrecy; A screen of fog prevented our seeing the ship.
8.
a frame holding a mesh of wire, cloth, or plastic, for placing in a window or doorway, around a porch, etc., to admit air but exclude insects.
9.
a sieve, riddle, or other meshlike device used to separate smaller particles or objects from larger ones, as for grain or sand.
10.
a system for screening or grouping people, objects, etc.
11.
Military. a body of troops sent out to protect the movement of an army.
12.
Navy. a protective formation of small vessels, as destroyers, around or in front of a larger ship or ships.
13.
Physics. a shield designed to prevent interference between various agencies:
electric screen.
14.
Electronics. screen grid.
15.
Photography. a plate of ground glass or the like on which the image is brought into focus in a camera before being photographed.
16.
Photoengraving. a transparent plate containing two sets of fine parallel lines, one crossing the other, used in the halftone process.
17.
Sports.
  1. any of various offensive plays in which teammates form a protective formation around the ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, etc.
  2. any of various defensive plays in which teammates conceal or block an opposing ball carrier, pass receiver, shooter, or the goal, basket, net, etc., itself.
verb (used with object)
18.
to shelter, protect, or conceal with or as if with a screen.
19.
to select, reject, consider, or group (people, objects, ideas, etc.) by examining systematically:
Job applicants were screened by the personnel department.
20.
to provide with a screen or screens to exclude insects:
He screened the porch so they could enjoy sitting out on summer evenings.
21.
to sift or sort by passing through a screen.
22.
to project (a motion picture, slide, etc.) on a screen.
23.
Movies.
  1. to show (a motion picture), especially to an invited audience, as of exhibitors and critics.
  2. to photograph with a motion-picture camera; film.
  3. to adapt (a story, play, etc.) for presentation as a motion picture.
24.
to lighten (type or areas of a line engraving) by etching a regular pattern of dots or lines into the printing surface.
verb (used without object)
25.
to be projected on a motion-picture screen.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English screne (noun) < Anglo-French; Old French escren (French écran) < Frankish *skrank, cognate with Old High German scrank barrier (German Schrank cupboard)
Related forms
screenable, adjective
screener, noun
screenless, adjective
screenlike, adjective
rescreen, verb (used with object)
superscreen, noun, adjective
unscreenable, adjective
unscreened, adjective
well-screened, adjective
Synonyms
7. guard, shield. See cover. 18. veil, defend, shield, hide, mask.
Examples from the web for screen
  • Its sole function is to display those two words on the screen.
  • It's not every day that the struggle to protect an endangered species makes it to the silver screen.
  • Pixel are the dots that make up the picture on a display screen.
  • In their study, people looked at a display on a computer screen.
  • The first bendable, touch-screen display will be used by the military.
  • In the room, a large display screen showed a running feed of tweets.
  • Most directors believe that the translating of a mystery story to the screen is a thankless task.
  • When you turn this feature on, you will get a small bubble in the lower, left-hand corner of the screen.
  • Give the photos below a little rub and sniff the photos on the screen.
  • The big screen has been beset by bugs since the beginning.
British Dictionary definitions for screen

screen

/skriːn/
noun
1.
a light movable frame, panel, or partition serving to shelter, divide, hide, etc
2.
anything that serves to shelter, protect, or conceal
3.
a frame containing a mesh that is placed over a window or opening to keep out insects
4.
a decorated partition, esp in a church around the choir See also rood (sense 1)
5.
a sieve
6.
a system for selecting people, such as candidates for a job
7.
the wide end of a cathode-ray tube, esp in a television set, on which a visible image is formed
8.
a white or silvered surface, usually fabric, placed in front of a projector to receive the enlarged image of a film or of slides
9.
the screen, the film industry or films collectively
10.
(photog) a plate of ground glass in some types of camera on which the image of a subject is focused before being photographed
11.
(printing) a glass marked with fine intersecting lines, used in a camera for making half-tone reproductions
12.
men or ships deployed around and ahead of a larger military formation to warn of attack or protect from a specific threat
13.
(sport, mainly US & Canadian) a tactical ploy in which a player blocks an opponent's view
14.
(psychoanal) anything that prevents a person from realizing his true feelings about someone or something
15.
(electronics) See screen grid
verb (transitive)
16.
(sometimes foll by off) to shelter, protect, or conceal
17.
to sieve or sort
18.
to test or check (an individual or group) so as to determine suitability for a task, etc
19.
to examine for the presence of a disease, weapons, etc: the authorities screened five hundred cholera suspects
20.
to provide with a screen or screens
21.
to project (a film) onto a screen, esp for public viewing
22.
(intransitive) to be shown at a cinema or on the television
23.
(printing) to photograph (a picture) through a screen to render it suitable for half-tone reproduction
24.
(sport, mainly US & Canadian) to block the view of (an opposing player)
Derived Forms
screenable, adjective
screener, noun
screenful, noun
screenlike, adjective
Word Origin
C15: from Old French escren (French écran); related to Old High German skrank, German Schrank cupboard
Word Origin and History for screen
n.

mid-14c., "upright piece of furniture providing protection from heat of a fire, drafts, etc.," probably from a shortened (Anglo-French? cf. Anglo-Latin screna) variant of Old North French escren, Old French escran "fire-screen" (early 14c.), perhaps from Middle Dutch scherm "screen, cover, shield," or Frankish *skrank "barrier," from Proto-Germanic *skerm- (cf. Old High German skirm, skerm "protection," from PIE *(s)ker- "to cut" (see shear (v.)).

Meaning "net-wire frame used in windows and doors" is recorded from 1859. Meaning "flat vertical surface for reception of projected images" is from 1810, originally in reference to magic lantern shows; later of movies. Transferred sense of "cinema world collectively" is attested from 1914; hence screen test (1918), etc. Screen saver first attested 1990. Screen printing recorded from 1918.

v.

"to shield from punishment, to conceal," late 15c., from screen (n.). Meaning "examine systematically for suitability" is from 1943; sense of "to release a movie" is from 1915. Related: Screened; screening.

screen in Medicine

screen (skrēn)
n.

  1. One that serves to protect, conceal, or divide.

  2. The white or silver surface on which a picture is projected for viewing.

  3. A screen memory.

v. screened, screen·ing, screens

  1. To process a group of people in order to select or separate certain individuals from it.

  2. To test or examine for the presence of disease or infection.

screen in Science
screen
  (skrēn)   

  1. The surface on which an image is displayed, as on a television, computer monitor, or radar receiver.

  2. An electrode placed between the plate (anode) and the control grid in a tetrode valve, used to reduce the capacitance between the grid and the plate, increasing its ability to respond to high frequencies, especially radio frequencies.


screen in Technology

1. A generic term for a display device that shows text and/or images on a roughly flat rectangular surface. The most common type is usually refered to as a "monitor" and is based on a cathode-ray tube, though flat panel displays have, since around 2000, become increasingly competitive in price and performance.
(2005-07-28)
2. A screen multiplexer utility which lets you run multiple interactive terminal sessions (and curses programs) through a single terminal connection (on one virtual console, one terminal, through one modem link, telnet session or xterm).
Screen can detach processes from one terminal and attach them to another. "Auto-detach" lets you continue working after being disconnected and reconnected. It supports keyboard driven cut and paste from any text and/or curses application (like Lynx) to any other (like xemacs).
Screen comes with many Linux distributions and is available (free) on many other Unix platforms.
(2005-07-29)