screen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something

   a screen of trees afforded privacy

2. 2
   noun

   the personnel of the film industry

   a star of stage and screen

3. 3
   verb

   examine methodically

   screen the suitcases

4. 4
   verb

   project onto a screen for viewing

   screen a film

5. 5
   verb

   examine in order to test suitability

   screen these samples

6. 6
   verb

   test or examine for the presence of disease or infection

   screen the blood for the HIV virus

7. 7
   noun

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

   a fire screen

8. 8
   noun

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

   a drug screen, a genetic screen

Etymology

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…