screen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The flat surface of a TV, computer, or phone on which images appear.

   He spends hours staring at his computer screen.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat upright object used to divide a room or hide something from view.

   A folding screen separated the two halves of the room.

3. 3
   verb

   To show a film or programme in a cinema or on television.

   The cinema will screen the new film next week.

4. 4
   verb

   To test someone for a disease or check them for something.

   Doctors screen the blood for infection before it is used.

From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm. An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc…

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