screen

Alternative forms

• skreen (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: skrēn, IPA: /skɹiːn/, [skɹ̥ʷɪi̯n]

Noun

screen (plural screens)

1. A physical divider intended to block an area from view, or provide shelter from something dangerous.
   • a fire screen
2. A material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass.
   1. (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.
   2. (baseball) The protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects
      • Jones caught the foul up against the screen.
   3. (printing) A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.
3. (by analogy) Searching through a sample for a target; an act of screening, or the method for it.
   • a drug screen, a genetic screen
   1. (genetics) A technique used to identify genes so as to study gene functions.
4. Various forms or formats of information display
   1. The viewing surface or area of a movie, or moving picture or slide presentation.
   2. The informational viewing area of electronic devices, where output is displayed.
   3. One of the individual regions of a video game, etc. divided into separate screens.
   4. (computing) The visualised data or imagery displayed on a computer screen.
      • After you turn on the computer, the login screen appears.
5. (figurative) A disguise; concealment.
6. Definitions related to standing in the path of an opposing player
   1. (American football) Short for screen pass.
   2. (basketball) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
      • Synonym: pick
7. (cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to make the ball more easily visible.
8. (nautical) A collection of less-valuable vessels that travel with a more valuable one for the latter's protection.
9. (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.
10. (Scotland, archaic) A large scarf.

Verb

screen (third-person singular simple present screens, present participle screening, simple past and past participle screened)

1. To filter by passing through a screen.
   • Mary screened the beans to remove the clumps of gravel.
2. To shelter or conceal.
3. 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.
4. (film, television) To present publicly (on the screen).
   • The news report will be screened at 11:00 tonight.
5. To fit with a screen.
   • We need to screen this porch. These bugs are driving me crazy.
6. (medicine) To examine patients or treat a sample in order to detect a chemical or a disease, or to assess susceptibility to a disease.
7. (molecular biology) 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.
8. (basketball) To stand so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
   • Synonym: pick
9. To determine the source or subject matter of a call before deciding whether to answer the phone.

Anagrams

• censer, scener, scerne, secern