Definition of "screen"

A physical divider intended to block an area from view, or provide shelter from something dangerous.  quotations  examples

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.  examples

2. (baseball) The protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects  examples

3. (printing) A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.  examples

(by analogy) Searching through a sample for a target; an act of screening, or the method for it.

1. (genetics) A technique used to identify genes so as to study gene functions.  examples

Various forms or formats of information display

1. The viewing surface or area of a movie, or moving picture or slide presentation.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

2. The informational viewing area of electronic devices, where output is displayed.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • You won't find me living for the screen […] I ain't equipment I ain't automatic

     1977, Sex Pistols, Spunk, “Problems” (song)

3. One of the individual regions of a video game, etc. divided into separate screens.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

4. (computing) The visualised data or imagery displayed on a computer screen.  examples

(figurative) A disguise; concealment.  quotations  examples

Definitions related to standing in the path of an opposing player

1. (American football) Short for screen pass.  examples

2. (basketball) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.  examples

(cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to make the ball more easily visible.  examples

(nautical) A collection of less-valuable vessels that travel with a more valuable one for the latter's protection.  examples

(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.  examples

(Scotland, archaic) A large scarf.

To filter by passing through a screen.  examples

To shelter or conceal.  examples

To remove information, or censor intellectual material from viewing. To hide the facts.  quotations  examples

(film, television) To present publicly (on the screen).  examples

To fit with a screen.  examples

(medicine) To examine patients or treat a sample in order to detect a chemical or a disease, or to assess susceptibility to a disease.  examples

(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.

(basketball) To stand so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.  examples

To determine the source or subject matter of a call before deciding whether to answer the phone.  quotations  examples