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noun Screen n. 1.Anything that separates or cuts off inconvenience, injury, or danger; that which shelters or conceals from view; a shield or protection; as, a fire screen. "Your leavy screens throw down." "Some ambitious men seem as screens to princes in matters of danger and envy." 2.(Arch.) 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, or the like. 3.A surface, as that afforded by a curtain, sheet, wall, etc., upon which an image, as a picture, is thrown by a magic lantern, solar microscope, etc. 4.A long, coarse riddle or sieve, sometimes a revolving perforated cylinder, used to separate the coarser from the finer parts, as of coal, sand, gravel, and the like. 5.(Cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to enable him to see ball better. 6.A netting, usu. of metal, contained in a frame, used mostly in windows or doors to allow in fresh air while excluding insects. Screen door, A door of which half or more is composed of a screen. Screen window, A screen inside a frame, fitted for insertion into a window frame. 7.The surface of an electronic device, as a television set or computer monitor, on which a visible image is formed. The screen is frequently the surface of a cathode-ray tube containing phosphors excited by the electron beam, but other methods for causing an image to appear on the screen are also used, as in flat-panel displays. 8.The motion-picture industry; motion pictures. "A star of stage and screen."
verb Screen v. t. (past & past part. screened; pres. part. screening) 1.To provide with a shelter or means of concealment; to separate or cut off from inconvenience, injury, or danger; to shelter; to protect; to protect by hiding; to conceal; as, fruits screened from cold winds by a forest or hill. "They were encouraged and screened by some who were in high commands." 2.To pass, as coal, gravel, ashes, etc., through a screen in order to separate the coarse from the fine, or the worthless from the valuable; to sift. 3.To examine a group of objects methodically, to separate them into groups or to select one or more for some purpose. As: (a)To inspect the qualifications of candidates for a job, to select one or more to be hired. (b)(Biochem., Med.) To test a large number of samples, in order to find those having specific desirable properties; as, to screen plant extracts for anticancer agents.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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