| 释义 |
▪ I. screen, n.1|skriːn|
Forms: (? 4 scren), 5–6 screne, 5–7 skrene, skreene, 6 scren, skreine, 7 skrein, 6–7 screene, 7 schreen(e, 8 skreyn, 7–9 skreen, 7– screen. Also 6–7 scrine, skrine.
[Of difficult etymology. The sense corresponds with that of F. écran, OF. escran (1318 in Hatz.-Darm.), in glossaries also escrin, escren (Du Cange s. vv. Antipirgium, Antypira); Godefr. gives one instance of escrime fem. in the same sense. The ME. skrene, skreene, however, does not admit of being regarded as an adoption of any of these forms; though it may represent some AF. variant or derivative. The form has probably been influenced by confusion with screne = scrine, chest, coffer.
The OF. escrin, escren (? whence escran) is prob. a. OHG. skirm, skerm (mod.G. schirm) of the same meaning; the fem. escrine is presumably a derivative of the same word.]
1. A contrivance for warding off the heat of a fire or a draught of air.
a. A piece of furniture consisting usually of an upright board or of a frame hung with leather, canvas, cloth, tapestry, or paper, or of two or more such boards or frames hinged together. Cf. fire-screen.
The meaning of the word in quots. 1393–1403 is uncertain; it is not impossible that they ought to be placed under scrine, coffer. In quot. 1530 the meaning may be a fireguard.
1393Test. Ebor. (Surtees) I. 194 Unum skreu [? read skren] ferreum. 1403Nottingham Rec. II. 20, j. skrene, iijs. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 564/24 Antipera, a screne. c1440Promp. Parv. 450/2 Screne.., ventifuga. c1460Bk. Curtasye 462 in Babees Bk., And fuel to chymné hym falle to gete, And screnes in clof to y-saue þo hete Fro þo lorde at mete when he is sett. 1530Palsgr. 271/1 Skrene made of wycars to put bytwene the fyre, escrain, estrane. 1603Inv. in Gage Hengrave (1822) 27 Itm, one great foulding skreene of seaven foulds. 1630Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. cxii. (1633) 282 This screene, that stands betwixt me and the fire, is like some good friend at the Court, which keepes me from the heate of the unjust displeasure of the great. 1711Hermit 25 Aug. 2/1 Indian Skreens must be purchased to succeed Abraham and Isaac [on tapestry]. 1854Househ. Words VIII. 58/2 Tables, chairs, pole-screens and cheval-screens. 1899Cowan Hist. Kiss 230 There was a draught⁓screen just at the door.
b. A frame covered with paper or cloth, or a disk or plate of thin wood, cardboard, etc. (often decorated with painting or embroidery) with a handle by which a person may hold it between his face and the fire; a hand-screen. Also applied to a merely ornamental article of similar form and material.
1548MS. Harl. 1409 lf. 61 Two litle Skrenes of silke to hold againste the fier. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 83/1 The first is nominated a screene, it is a thing made round of crisped paper, and set in an handle to hold before a Ladies face, when she sits neere the fire. 1712Steele Spectator No. 336 ⁋2 [They] plague me..to cheapen Tea or buy a Skreen. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. ii, Is it what you people call law-hand? she asks..toying with her screen.
c. A wooden seat or settle with a high back to keep away draughts.
1826Wilbraham Cheshire Gloss. (ed. 2) 77 Skreen, a wooden settee or settle, with a very high back, sufficient to screen those who sit on it from the external air. 1879in G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. Suppl. 512.
d. A contrivance, originally in the form of a screen (sense 1 a), for affording an upright surface for display: (a) of objects; e.g. for exhibition; a frame for photographs resembling a folding screen.
1859R. Hunt Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2) 46 The screen on the eastern wall..exhibits the russet and bird's eye marble, in the base. 1888Lady 25 Oct. 374/3 Some of the most delightful panel screens for photographs I ever set eyes on.
(b) Of images; e.g. a flat vertical surface prepared for the reception of images from a magic lantern or the like; spec. (i) a usu. large white surface for receiving the image from a film projector; (ii) a small fluorescent screen, esp. one in a television set (so little screen) or in a VDU or monitor used with a computer; hence, the VDU or monitor itself; (iii) transf. (usually with definite article), moving pictures collectively; the cinema; the film world.
1810New Family Receipt-bk. 257 To make Transparent Screens for the Exhibition of the Phantasmagoria. 1846Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 254/2 Magic lantern is a species of lucernal microscope, its object being to obtain an enlarged representation of figures, on a screen in a darkened room. 1881[see zoetrope]. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 54/1 Screens which become fluorescent under the influence of the Röntgen rays are generally made of platino-cyanides. 1910Moving Picture World 19 Feb. 249/1 People..like to see on the screen what they read about. 1915N.Y. Times 15 Nov. 11/1 Unlike the legitimate stage, the screen does not have to wait for a dramatist to become inspired before it may present the topic of the hour. 1920Mrs. P. Campbell Let. 20 Dec. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 215, I am much too aged for Eliza on the Screen! 1926Nature 3 July 19/2 Every possessor of a ‘televisor’ will be in a position to see on his screen the performers in operas and plays as well as hearing them. 1928E. Wallace Double i. 11 ‘What is her name?’ ‘Mary Dane... Mary Dane—sounds like something off the screen, doesn't it?’ 1932Ann. Reg. 1931 48 Death robbed the screen of Lya de Putti, best remembered for her performance in ‘Variety’, and Tyrone Power, veteran character actor. 1943K. Tennant Ride on Stranger iv. 37 He's marvellous!.. Six feet tall and fair wavy hair. He ought to be on the screen. 1946B.B.C. Year Bk. 20 A badly-produced programme may make you feel that the screen is small and cramped, but if the programme is good enough you will look at the screen not as a picture within a frame but as a view seen through a window. 1949Radio Times 15 July 13/4 Music from the movies. Melodies from the screen in swingtime and symphony. 1956R. M. Lester Towards Hereafter v. 63 Personages very well known in the world of industry, politics, stage, screen and radio. 1961I. Murdoch Severed Head xxi. 179 Violence, except on the screen, is always pathetic, ludicrous and beastly. 1970D. D. Benice Introd. Computers & Data Processing vi. 123 There is a keyboard for entering data and commands and a light pen for indicating design changes by ‘writing’ on the screen. 1975Listener 2 Jan. 23/1 The cumulative effect of watching the little screen for hours on end. 1976A. Davis Television: First Forty Years 121 In the beginning, television had little or no time to devote to religion, for there were only two hours of transmissions on weekdays, and on Sundays the screen stayed blank. 1977Private Eye 1 Apr. 10/3 It's all here at-a-glance—everything you want to see and know about the glamorous, dynamic world of the little screen. 1982L. J. Goldstein TRS-80 Model III Programming ii. 43 The Model III screen contains 16 lines so you can display only 16 program statements at one time. 1984J. Hilton Choosing & using your Home Computer 178/1 When the program is run, the first thing that will appear on the screen will be the print statements starting at line 230. 1984Which Micro? Dec. 2 (Advt.), Output is information from the computer to..a screen. 1985Daily Tel. 8 July 11/8 The text is simply typed on screen. 1986Ibid. 6 May 18/2 National Westminster Bank is planning to put screens displaying share prices and stock market information into a select number of branches.
(c) Photogr. More fully focusing screen. A flat piece of glass on which the image formed by a camera lens is focused prior to making the exposure.
1858[see focusing vbl. n. 2]. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 1 (Photogr.) A screen of ground⁓glass. 1902A. Watkins Photogr. 19 With the lens full open you will probably notice the image on the screen is not quite so sharply defined at the extreme corners as it is in the centre. 1962A. Günther Microphotogr. in Libr. 23 Focusing is rather critical, and a precision camera with focusing screen should therefore be used. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 14 Some photographers find focusing on a screen more difficult than focusing with an image-coinciding rangefinder.
e. Mining. (See quot.)
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Screen,..a cloth brattice or curtain hung across a road in a mine to direct the ventilation.
f. Any thin extended surface set up to intercept shot in gunnery trials.
1879Manual Artill. Exerc. i. 17 The shot passes through two screens placed a certain distance apart. Ibid., The velocity of the shot at the various screens [is] calculated from a comparison of the screen and time records. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 300/1 The shot, after leaving the gun, cuts the wire of the first screen, and subsequently the wire of the second screen.
g. Cricket. An erection of canvas or wood placed behind the bowler, outside the playing area, to provide a white background and a shield from moving objects behind the bowler's arm. Cf. sight-screen s.v. sight n.1 17.
1894N. Gale Cricket Songs 31 O Bowler... He sends you clean beyond the screen. 1908W. E. W. Collins Leaves Old Country Cricketer's Diary ix. 153 To be sure the light—this was his account—was all wrong. Anyhow we moved the screen three times to accommodate him, and even so he was not altogether happy. 1977J. Laker One-Day Cricket 107, I eventually emerged from behind the screens.
h. N. Amer. and Austral. A frame covered with a fine netting of wire or the like, used in a window or a doorway to exclude insects.
1895Montgomery Ward & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 389/1 Adjustable Window Screen, so constructed as to form a perfect joint with the parting strip, so that it is not necessary to remove the screen in order to close the window. 1956W. R. Bird Off-Trail in Nova Scotia ii. 51 As Saturday was a warm day everyone along the road was busy, putting up screens. 1971Sunday Australian 8 Aug. 8a/6 (Advt.), Insect screens and screen doors that are custom-made. 1977Detroit Free Press 11 Dec. 21-a 1, I opened the window, but I couldn't get the screen off and it was getting very hot.
2. a. Arch. A partition of wood or stone, pierced by one or more doors, dividing a room or building into two parts.
c1460Bk. Curtasye 28 in Babees Bk., And sithen byfore the screne þou stonde In myddys þe halle. 1553Bale tr. Bp. Gardiners Serm. H j b, I am..compelled to take my wyfe Truthe to me, whan she commeth agayne at leynght peeping behynde the scrine. 1589Hay any Work for Cooper 44 When he hadd gotten some fatte meat of O the fellowes table, would go to the skrine, and first wipe his mouth on the on[e] side and then O the other, because he wanted a napkin. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. x. 37 Streight th' other fled away, And ran into the Hall, where he did weene Him selfe to saue: but he there slew him at the skreene. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 118 He always loved good talk, and often would get behind the Skreen to hear it. 1851Turner Dom. Archit. I. ii. 44 Behind the screen, or ‘in the screens’ as it was called was ..the Lavatory. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xi. (1897) 380 The name [chancellor], derived probably from the cancelli, or skreen behind which the secretarial work of the royal household was carried on.
b. Eccl. (See chancel-screen, rood-screen.)
1643Evelyn Diary 24 Dec., They greatly reverence the Crucifix over the skreene of the Quire. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 265 He committed the same error at Winchester, thrusting a screen in the Roman or Grecian taste into the middle of that cathedral. 1826Scott Woodst. i, Two fair screens of beautiful sculptured oak had been destroyed. 1908F. Bond (title) Screens and Galleries in English Churches.
c. A wall thrown out in front of a building and masking the façade.
1842R. Brown Dom. Arch. 318 Screen, a row of columns with their continued entablature, erected along the top of a dwarf-wall, between which and the dwelling-house is a court, generally attached to palaces. 1886C. E. Pascoe Lond. of To-day xxxi. (ed. 3) 283 The screen on the White⁓hall side [of the Admiralty]. Ibid. xxxii. 295 Devonshire House, a large mansion with a screen in front, at the corner of St. James's Street.
d. Mil. = screen-battery (sense 9 below).
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) 35 Small openings are made in the screens corresponding with the embrasures of the batteries.
e. Geol. A roughly tabular body of older rock separating two intrusions.
1910W. B. Wright in Summ. Progr. Geol. Surv. 1909 33 About a quarter of a mile further inland, in the midst of the granophyre, a vertical screen of lava occurs... This screen varies much in thickness, being as little as 10 feet in one place, but reaching 300 feet in others... The granophyre on the outside of this screen is a distinct intrusion from that inside. 1942M. P. Billings Structural Geol. xv. 284 If the central block subsides several times.., a number of concentric ring-dikes will form. A remnant of the older country rock left between two ring-dikes is called a screen.
3. transf.
a. Applied to any object, natural or artificial, that affords shelter from heat or wind.
Ramsay's application of the word to a scarf worn by a woman over the head has been echoed by later writers as if it were a dialectal specific sense.
1538Elyot Dict., Vmbella, a lyttel shadow, also a skrine to kepe away the light of the sonne. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. vii. 167 A South-window in summer..needs the schreen of a curtain. 1724Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 66 My mistris in her tartan screen. 1784tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 31 When the sun began to break through the clouds they ordered a pavilion to be raised, as a screen from the intrusion of his beams. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxv, Her tartan screen served all the purposes of a riding-habit, and of an umbrella.
b. Something interposed so as to conceal from view. Also fig.
1605Shakes. Macb. v. vi. 1 Now neere enough: Your leauy Skreenes throw downe, And shew like those you are. a1674Traherne Chr. Ethics (1675) 91 All Things are naked and open before his Eyes, and there be no Walls to exclude, or Skreens to hide..nor Distance to over come, but all Things equally neer and fair. a1704T. Brown On the Beauties Wks. 1730 I. 44 Next, over all, must Phryne's skin be drawn..Through which most lovely and unfaithful screen The various passions of the soul are seen. 1788Burke Sp. agst. W. Hastings Wks. XIII. 284 The screen, the veil spread before this transaction, is torn open by the very people themselves, who are the tools in it. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xiv, The sun set beyond..the screen of western hills. 1851Gallenga Italy 23 He sought, it would be difficult to say whether a comfort or a screen in the observance of religious practices.
c. Mil. A small body of men detached to cover the movements of an army.
1892Home & Pratt Précis Mod. Tactics 81 The dispersion on a wide front which is necessary to obtain what is generally called the cavalry screen necessarily entails weakness. 1894Gall Mod. Tactics (ed. 3) 175 Large bodies of infantry when there is a possibility of contact with the enemy will be covered by what is now called a screen of troops in extended order.
d. A line or belt of trees planted to give protection from the wind.
1644Evelyn Diary 21 Mar., A pretty garden,..having at the entrance a skreene at an exceeding height, accurately cutt in topiary worke. 1791W. Gilpin Forest Scenery II. 75 In a part of the skreen, which divides these grounds from the road, we have an opportunity of remarking the disagreeable effect of trees planted alternately. 1842J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 246 Screens of oak and sycamore trees. 1882Garden 28 Jan. 65/1 All..screens of Privet, Beech, Holly, Yew, &c. to be kept thick must be cut annually.
e. Meteorol. A shelter that surrounds meteorological instruments and protects them from direct sunlight and precipitation, usu. painted white and louvred to provide indirect ventilation.
1881W. Marriott Hints to Meteorol. Observers 10 The screen should be placed over short grass in a freely exposed situation. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXX. 699/1 Various forms of open lattice work and louvre screens have been devised and used.., in all of which the wind is supposed to blow freely through the screens, while the latter cut off the greater part of the direct sunshine. 1923F. Wild Shackleton's Last Voy. i. 12 One large screen, containing hair hygrograph, standard thermometer and thermograph. 1975J. Scott Fun with Meteorol. 36/1 Ideally the thermometer bulbs should be about 4 ft. above ground level and the screen should have a north opening door to eliminate direct sunlight when it is opened.
f. A windscreen of a motor vehicle; also formerly, (a) a secondary screen to shield the occupants of the back seat in an open car; (b) a screen of celluloid for protecting the sides of an open car.
1904A. B. F. Young Complete Motorist vii. 176 When a cover is used it should have a removable glass screen in front. 1912Motor Manual (ed. 14) iii. 99 Most cars now have adjustable and detachable glass or celluloid windscreens as a protection against the weather, dust, etc; screens can also be made of wire gauze and waterproof material. 1925Morris Owner's Man. p. xi (Advt.), There are..rear screens and rear screens. 1955Times 10 May 7/7 Perhaps the only fault from the driver's point of view is that his windscreen wiper is badly located and does not clean enough of the right-hand side of the screen. 1959Motor Manual (ed. 36) vi. 186 Whatever the type of motor, it is usually combined with a suitable speed-reducing mechanism so that the wiper blades shall move reasonably slowly across the screen.
g. U.S. Sports. (See quots. 1961 and 1976.)
1939Sat. Even. Post 7 Oct. 89/2 These are the components of a good passing game: the pitcher, receivers, and screen behind which the thrower can successfully operate. 1951[see pick n.3 10]. 1961J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 383 Screen (basketball), term used to describe a maneuver of the offensive team in which one player, by moving in front of opponent, ‘screens’ or ‘screens out’ that opponent from his teammate. A screen generally is worked in an effort to free one of the offensive team members for a shot at the basket. Ibid. 384 Screen (handball), an assumed or retained position on the court which prevents the opponent from getting to, or playing the ball. 1967B. Starr Quarterbacking 173 Screen passes are effective countermoves by the offense when the defense is applying heated pressure on the passer. 1975New Yorker 7 Apr. 100/3 On offense, they zipped the ball around fast and moved with purpose, setting the picks and screens that their principal plays..called for until someone got open for a good shot. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 374/1 Screen, a maneuver in various sports by which an opponent is legally cut off from the play.
4. fig.
a. A means of securing from attack, punishment, or censure. Also, anything which intervenes obstructingly.
1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 107 To haue no Schreene between this part he plaid, And him he plaid it for, he needes will be Absolute Millaine. 1625Bacon Ess., Envy (Arb.) 514 There be so many Skreenes betweene him, and Envy. 1760Ann. Reg. III. Misc. Ess. 213 A worthless rascal who has found out the art of deceiving under the screen of royal authority. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 651 He would not have scrupled to form for himself a screen out of his own ambiguity. 1877Northcote Rom. Catacombs i. i. 24 They furnished a real and legal screen for the protection of the Christian Society. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 56 There's no longer screen betwixt soul and soul's joy.
b. (a) See quot. 1710; (b) a chaperon. ? nonce-uses.
1710Steele Tatler No. 171 Advt., All false Buyers at Auctions being employ'd only to hide others, are from this Day forward to be known in Mr. Bickerstaff's Writings by the Word Screens. 1818Scott Rob Roy xiv, I will bribe old Martha with a cup of tea to sit by me and be my screen.
5. a. An apparatus used in the sifting of grain, coal, etc. Cf. scry n.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 37 A skuttle or skreine, to rid soile fro the corne. 1667Merret in Phil. Trans. II. 466 The Skreens are made with two partitions, to separate the dust from the Corn. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 101 A frame..made all of small wire just as I have seen fine Screens to screen Corne in. 1760Milles in Phil. Trans. LI. 538 The smaller coal is separated from the clay by a skreen, or grated shovel. 1805Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Pl. xiv, The corn passes through the skreen G into the hopper H. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 547 There is a portable screen or harp for riddling and depositing the stones. 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 61 An improvement has been made..by the substitution, at several mills, of coarse screens, with apertures one-quarter of an inch in diameter, instead of the one-eighth-inch screens heretofore in use.
b. An arrangement of bars at the end of an overflow pipe, to prevent the escape of fish from a pond.
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 57 They had..gone through the screen at the mouth of the pipe.
6. a. Applied to various portions of optical, electrical, and other instruments, serving to intercept light, heat, electricity, etc.
1819–23Barlow Optics in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) III. 474/2 A skreen of gauze, or gummed muslin posited vertically. 1878Encycl. Brit. VIII. 29/1 What are called electrical screens, i.e. sheets of metal used to defend electrical instruments, &c., from external influences. 1893Sloane Electr. Dict., Screen, Electric, a large plate or a hollow case or cage of conducting material connected with the earth, and used to protect any body placed within it from electrostatic influences. 1915Hawkhead & Dowsett Handbk. Wireless Telegr. (ed. 2) 263 Some valves are fitted with an additional screen of copper gauze covering the outside of the glass bulb... This screen protects the valve from heavy spark discharges in the neighbourhood. 1931B. Brown Talking Pictures v. 127 A special sound-porous screen is used when the speakers are placed directly behind the picture. Most of the sound screens used in this country are of the woven type and of loose construction. 1950High Voltage Cables (British Insulated Callender's Cables Ltd.) (ed. 2) i. 4 The screen functions as an earth conductor in close contact with the insulation. 1978A. M. Portis Electromagnetic Fields xiv. 544 We wish..to discuss the scattering by various kinds of apertures in a two dimensional dielectric screen.
b. Radio. An arrangement of parallel wires located between a transmitting aerial and the earth's surface, serving to reduce the loss of power from the aerial to the earth.
1922R. Keen Direction & Position Finding by Wireless i. 5 Experiments were being carried out in Germany..in connection with the screening of a vertical aerial... In other countries work..led to the complete wire screen or reflector. 1952E. A. Laport Radio Antenna Engin. ii. 123 It is desirable to bring the ground wires to the surface a short distance from the radiator base so as to form a good ground screen above the soil near the antenna base where the electric field strengths are high. 1961H. Jasik Antenna Engin. Handbk. xxiv. 16 If a screen is designed for both high and low bands in the VHF range, the over-all size should be determined by the lowest frequency.
c. Electronics. = screen grid.
1927Amateur Wireless XI. 269/1 The presence of the outer grid between the inner grid and the plate or anode naturally acts to some extent as a screen, and since this is connected to H.T. which is effectively at earth potential, we have a capacitative screen between the two electrodes. 1933Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CCXVI. 418 Close to this first grid, and coaxial with it and the cathode, is a second spiral used to screen the control grid from the fields of the plate and called therefore the ‘screen grid’ or simply the ‘screen’. 1942Electronic Engin. XIV. 639/3 This formula..gives less accurate results for pentodes and tetrodes unless the transconductance to the screen is taken into account. 1962D. F. Shaw Introd. Electronics xi. 234 The defect in the tetrode characteristics..is eliminated by the insertion of a third grid, called the suppressor grid, between the anode and the screen.
7. Printing.
a. A transparent plate, covered with two crossing sets of closely spaced parallel lines or with a uniform pattern of fine dots, behind which a photosensitive surface is exposed to obtain a half-tone image or as a step in forming the image carrier in a gravure process; also, in Photogr., a patterned transparent plate or film that is combined with a negative during printing to give a textured appearance to the finished print.
1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 465/2 Half-tone plates are made by passing the rays of light from a negative through a screen which is ruled or dotted. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 411/1 This was finally accomplished by the insertion of a screen, in the camera, between the lens and the plate—the effect of which was to break up the whole surface of the negative into dots. 1940[see contact screen s.v. contact n. 6]. 1946H. Whetton Practical Printing & Binding xxv. 299/2 When the tissue is dry it is ready for screening. The cross-lined screen used in photogravure differs from those used in the production of half-tones. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes v. 158 Coarser screens, such as the 65-line screen, are used in newspapers printed by letterpress. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 255 The picture, below left, was made by sandwiching the screen with a 21/4 ins sq..negative so that the pattern appeared relatively small.
b. The fine gauze or mesh (orig. of silk: cf. silk screen n.) used in screen printing.
1934F. A. Baker Silk Screen Practice xvii. 114 Doubtless most screen operators have had visions of the ideal screen shop. 1938Biegeleisen & Busenbark Silk Screen Printing Process v. 105 Either organdy or silk may be used as the screen for film stencils. 1957Screen Printer & Display Producer July 3/2 The mesh is coated with a solution to form the screen for the photographic stencil. 1967V. Strauss Printing Industry vii. 521/1 After the screen is ready, it may either be proofed or be used for running without proofing.
8. An instance or the action of screening (see screen v. 4).
1954[see screen test (sense 9 a)]. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. iv. 77 In a general blind screen, a range of doses of the compound are injected into test animals..and gross behavioral observations are made with an eye toward detecting any activity. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xvii. 263 The majority of children scoring low on the group intelligence test have already been the subjects of consultation between head teachers and psychologists; consequently this second screen is now regarded as serving no more than a ‘mopping up’ purpose.
9. attrib. and Comb.
a. gen., as screen-bulkhead, † screen-fan, screen fence, screen image, screen-plantation, screen-shape, screen test, screen-work, (also fig.); † screen-faced, † screen-like adjs.; screen-battery Mil. (see quot.); screen-cell, a part of a gaol where a prisoner may be kept under constant observation; screen-chamber, an enclosure containing a screen (sense 5); screen-cloth, (a) the material used to cover a screen; metal or plastic mesh, esp. for covering a window or door screen (Webster), or for sifting material; (b) Mining, a mat hung in an airway to promote ventilation; screen current Electronics, the current flowing in the screen grid of a valve; screen-door, a metallic or textile outer door of a pair, used for protection against insects or storms; also Naut., for protection against explosions; screen grid Electronics, a grid placed between the control grid and the anode of a valve to reduce the capacitance between these electrodes; screen-man, a worker at the screen (sense 5), spec. in the Coal-trade = screener; screen(-)memory, Psychol., a Freudian term, orig. tr. as ‘concealing memory’, for a childhood memory whose apparently indifferent content screens from consciousness some (usu. previous) significant emotional event; screen-painting, pictorial decoration of church screens; screen († forward) pass N. Amer. Football (see quot. 1976); screen-perch (see quot.); screen plate Photogr., an obsolete form of colour plate in which minute filters in primary colours are incorporated in the plate itself; freq. attrib.; screen porch N. Amer., a veranda protected by a screen against insects; screen print n., (a) a picture or design produced by screen printing; (b) screen-printed fabric; screen printer, one who works at screen printing; screen printing, a printing process used esp. for pictorial matter in which the ink is transferred to the surface to be printed through a fine screen (sense 7 b) stretched in a frame, the non-printing parts of the screen having been rendered impervious; so screen-print v. trans., to print (a surface or a design) in this way; screen-printed ppl. a.; screen process, the process of screen printing; freq. attrib.; screen table (see quot. 1794); screen temperature Meteorol., the temperature as measured by a thermometer in a screen (sense 3 e); screen-tower, an elevated building containing a series of screens (sense 5); screen voltage Electronics, the voltage applied to the screen grid of a valve; screen wall, a wall that serves as a screen; so screenwalling; screen-wash, the cleaning of a windscreen automatically; also attrib., of a substance added to water used in screenwashing; screen-washer, a device which washes a windscreen by directing a jet of water on to its exterior from below; screen-wiper, a windscreen wiper.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) 35 A *screen battery is a parapet of earth running across the front of the batteries and thus forming a screen.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 404/1 The beam abaft, which comes under the *screen bulkhead.
1892Pall Mall Gaz. 24 Oct. 5/2 He was confined in a *screen cell.
1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 432 The screens are provided with latticed hoppers, which allows a current of air to flow freely up through the *screen-chambers.
1603Inv. in Gage Hengrave (1822) 27 A *skreen cloth..of green kersey. 1889Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Apr. 3/1 By the expenditure of a few shillings in hanging a mid wall of screencloth a plentiful supply of air could have been obtained. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 7 Oct. 2/5 Sales of bronze and copper screen cloth were allowed on an adjustable prices basis. 1974G. S. Ormsby in P. L. Moore et al. Drilling Practices Manual vi. 152 The particle size a shale shaker can remove depends almost completely upon the size and the shape of the mesh openings in the screen cloth.
1936E. D. McArthur Electronics & Electron Tubes v. 72 In this region, the *screen-current characteristic is the exact opposite of the plate-current characteristic. 1962D. F. Shaw Introd. Electronics xi. 232 The characteristics of a tetrode are more complex than those of a triode because of the additional variables of screen voltage and screen current. 1975D. G. Fink Electronics Engineer's Handbk. xiv. 8 Multi-grid tubes require screen-grid modulation in conjunction with the control-grid modulation to achieve space-charge modulation and to minimize screen current.
1840Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 84/1 Its effect is..unavoidably impaired by the interference of two pairs of *screen doors. 1889I. M. Rittenhouse Maud (1939) vii. 225 And after he'd gone I stood staring and staring out of the screen-door at nothing. 1914‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions vi. 39 The screen-door..opened from the battery to the quarter-deck. 1933E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! (1934) i. 16 Mrs. Miller. That boy! (She rushes to the screen door and out on the porch, calling:) Tommy! You mind what your Pa told you! 1974News & Courier (Charleston, S. Carolina) 19 Apr. (Wickes Lumber Advt. Suppl.) 6 Screen doors in many styles, sizes & finishes. 1977Gay News 24 Mar. 13/4 Such matters as who should fix the screen door, or do the cooking..seem to fall into place as if by prearrangement. 1979Sunset Apr. 56/1 The Boulevard Cafe, with open-air lunch counter, fly fans, and a banging screen door to an indoor counter, has been serving highway customers the same way for over 32 years.
1601Munday Downf. Robt. Earl Huntingdon B 4 b, Is it thy part, thou *screenfac't snotty nose, To hinder him that gaue thee all thou hast?
1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 367 Are sweating Lanthorns, or *Screen-fans, Made better there than th'are in France?
1856Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 817 Along the side [of the plantation] most exposed to the sea-breeze, erect a *screen fence composed of turf [etc.].
1928G. E. Sterling Radio Man. 167 The connection to the *screen grid is made to the regular grid connection on a standard socket. 1930Manch. Guardian 20 Sept. 15/7 A remarkable constructors' set known as the ‘Osram Music Magnet Four’, comprising two screen-grid stages, detector, and low frequency stages. 1942Electronic Engin. XV. 10/1 When used as a triode the suppressor and screen grids are connected to anode. 1974Harvey & Bohlman Stereo F.M. Radio Handbk. ii. 15 Carrier voltage is applied in push-pull via T1 to the control grids of the two valves, whilst the modulating signal is supplied to the screen grids from T2 which also provides push-pull drive.
1897Knowledge 1 Sept. 217/2 Any mixture of indefinite light with the *screen image has the effect of so much fog. 1937Discovery Feb. 45/1 For production of the screen image a high intensity automatic arc is being used.
1611Cotgr., Araroye, a round or *skreene⁓like ornament of feathers, worne by the West-Indian Sauages at their backes.
1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 48 *Skreenmen. 1891Labour Commission Gloss., Screeners or Screenmen, men at bank who shovel the coals over the flat of the screens into the wagons and clean them.
1924J. Riviere tr. Freud's Recollection, Repetition in Coll. Papers II. xxxii. 368 In many cases I have had the impression that the familiar childhood-amnesia, which is theoretically so important to us, is entirely outweighed by the *screen-memories. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 749/1 Screen memory, early childhood impressions and ideas which break through into consciousness, but are distorted and condensed into something which is unrecognisable to the individual. 1957L. Durrell Justine i. 78 It is perhaps what the Freudians would call a screen-memory of incidents in her earliest youth. 1962J. Strachey tr. Freud's Screen Memories in Compl. Wks. III. 320 A screen memory may be described as ‘retrogressive’ or as having ‘pushed forward’ according as the one chronological relation or the other holds between the screen and the thing screened off. 1967Kanzer & Blum in B. B. Wolman Psychoanal. Techniques iv. 107 An examination of the painful episode as a nucleus (screen memory) with an infinity of ramifications, which involved the entire relationship of the patient with his father.
1906G. E. Fox in Victoria Hist. County Norfolk II. 542 The *screen paintings at Barton Turf, Edingthorpe, Harpley, Potter Heigham, Houghton-le-Dale, Lessingham, Ranworth, and Walpole-St.-Peter, have all been assigned to the fifteenth century. 1937A. G. Little Franciscan History & Legend in English Mediaeval Art ii. 15 (heading) Screen Paintings... The painting of the lower panels of the rood and parclose screens of English churches with saints was confined almost entirely to the latter end of the 15th century.
1934C. Walsh Intercollegiate Football 345/2, 1908-‘*Screen’ Forward Pass (no longer legal). 1955E. Pope Football's Greatest Coaches xxviii. 326 Zuppke originated the system of pulling back guards to protect the passer, the screen pass. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 39/1 Ernie Carnegie gave the Redmen the lead with an 80-yard touchdown from a screen pass. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 374/2 Screen pass or screen football, a short forward pass to a back in the flat in front of whom a wall of interference has been formed by linemen who have moved over after the snap. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c 9/1 Sproul..found Ivery on a screen pass and Ivery weaved his way down the left sideline for the deciding touchdown.
1891Harting Bibl. Accipitr. 229 *Screen-perch, the form of perch used for hawks when kept in a room. 1965P. Wayre Wind in Reels x. 142 Trained birds of prey are often tied to a screen-perch in their mews at night, this is a padded perch from the underneath of which hangs a sheet of thick canvas or hessian well-weighted at the bottom to keep it taut. 1971Country Life 8 Apr. 799/3 Hawks have to be set to roost on a screen perch which prevents them from bating off and entangling themselves.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 420 Soften the rigour of winter, by sheltering the lower farms with *skreen-plantations.
[1898Sci. Trans. R. Dublin Soc. VI. 134 The lined screen which can bring about this will only show its individual colours when placed under the microscope. It is then seen to consist of closely ruled adjacent lines in reddish-orange, yellowish-green, and blue tints. This screen, applied closely to the sensitive surface, analyses the image in the camera.] 1909G. L. Johnson Photogr. Optics & Colour Photogr. v. 238 This *screen plate is covered with a panchromatic emulsion. 1930O. Wheeler Photogr. Printing Processes xvii. 218 Screen⁓plate processes for the production of transparencies..are undoubtedly of great merit. 1970M. J. Sethna Photography 8 John Joly's ‘screen-plate’ method led to the ‘autochrome’ plates made in 1907 by the Lumière brothers. 1973D. A. Spencer Focal Dict. Photogr. Technol. 548 Screen plate process, additive colour process in which the image is both recorded and viewed through a mosaic or reseau of microscopically small colour filter elements. The emulsion is exposed through the mosaic and reversal processed to yield an additive colour transparency.
1962M. E. Murie Two in Far North i. iv. 36 Mother baked pies, many of them, and doughnuts. These were put out into the cache or the *screen porch and frozen. 1970New Yorker 28 Feb. 48/2, I went around to the side and up on the screen porch, lifted the window to the library, and climbed in. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. (Advt. Section) 14/9 Screen porch, sun deck, 2 car garage, 3 car carport.
1938Biegeleisen & Busenbark Silk Screen Printing Process viii. 184 If a photograph or wash drawing is to be reproduced, it is first sent to a photoengraver, who makes a ‘*screen print’ from it. 1957Observer 1 Dec. 11/5 Chinese ‘Sampan’ screen⁓prints of water, reeds and flowers made full-skirted dresses. 1973Country Life 21 June 1808 The characteristic screen print..is an edition of 100 published by Christie's Contemporary Arts at {pstlg}65 each. 1976Dumfries & Galloway Standard 25 Dec. 11/4 (Advt.), Screen prints 120 cm. wide. Modern designs. Metre usually {pstlg}1·60. Now 99p.
1952Archit. Rev. CXI. 194 (caption) Curtains and chair-cover privately *screen-printed for Jane Drew. 1970Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 15 May 14 We made our real breakthrough when we screen-printed ceramic colours on to flat ware.
1957Screen Printer & Display Producer July 4/2 The older type of *screen printed transfers, which have been available to potters for some ten years.., have become well established as a medium for high quality multi-colour relief decoration. 1969Sears Catal. Spring/Summer 43 Long⁓sleeve screen-printed Sweatshirts.
1938Biegeleisen & Busenbark Silk Screen Printing Process i. 12 The *screen printer may make prints which so closely resemble wood⁓block prints that only an expert can distinguish the difference. 1977Daily Times (Lagos) 11 Jan. 22/5 (Advt.), Wanted. Experienced Screen-Printers. Apply..to Clem Advertising Productions.
1934F. A. Baker Silk Screen Printing iii. 21 (heading) Silk and other gauzes used in *screen printing. 1936[see hand block s.v. hand n. 65]. 1958Observer 17 Aug. 7/3 The firm of Taco use beautiful hand screen-printing of fruit and leaves on cotton ottoman, a process that takes twelve screens. (These days one has to say ‘hand screening’ because so much screen-printing is being done with the Swiss Buser automatic multicolor machine.) 1980Daily Tel. 11 July 15/4 The exhibition confirms..that screen-printing has become a major medium for the living artist.
1930B. Zahn Silk Screen Methods of Reproduction 37 The specification for a paint for *screen process work. 1938Biegeleisen & Busenbark Silk Screen Printing Process i. 7 Applicability of the screen process to the fine and applied arts has been recognized rather belatedly. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes ii. 35 (caption) Screen process presses are often used for printing on glass bottles. 1970British Printer July 69/1 Screen process had always been particularly versatile in handling a variety of surfaces and shapes which could not easily be printed by any of the three main printing processes. Ibid. 74/2 All screen-process inks contain inflammable solvents.
1888Lady 25 Oct. 374/3 A smaller frame, *screen shape,..to hold six ‘midget’ photographs.
1794T. Sheraton Cabinet-Maker & Upholsterer's Drawing-Bk. II. 395 Of the *Screen-Table. This table is intended for a lady to write or work at near the fire; the screen part behind securing her face from its injuries. 1971Country Life 30 Sept. (Suppl.) 29 (Advt.), A rare Sheraton period mahogany screen table, 17{pp} wide. {pstlg}245.
1913Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1912 740 The explanation lies in the removal of air which has been chilled by radiation from the plant, and its replacement by air at ‘*screen-temperature’. 1972Daily Tel. 1 Sept. 12/4 In Scotland the screen temperature fell to 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) at Tummel Bridge, Perthshire.
1954Cancer VII. 1184/2 Large numbers of women could receive a *screen test for carcinoma of the cervix with minimal utilization of professional personnel. 1971Nature 9 July 105/1 Observations suggest that it is possible to devise an in vitro ‘screen’ test for potentially carcinogenic substances.
1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 447 All [the ore] was elevated some seventy feet to the top of the *screen-tower.
1936E. D. McArthur Electronics & Electron Tubes v. 72 This..is fulfilled when the anode voltage becomes less positive than the *screen voltage. 1945Electronic Engin. XVII. 332/1 To obtain best results the control grid and screen voltages must be correctly chosen. 1962Screen voltage [see screen current above].
1900Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. XV. 303 The *screen-wall between the pillars of the nave. 1936A. W. Clapham Romanesque Archit. iii. 53 This eastern screen-wall..appears only in the Apulian school. 1971Country Life 30 Sept. 819/3 To guard against possible intrusion a screen wall was raised.
1976West Lancashire Even. Gaz. 13 Dec. 9/5 (Advt.), Very low-priced..quality fencing, wood and concrete posts, sheds, timber, *screen⁓walling.
1970Times 5 Mar. 16 Another new feature is the ‘cyclic’ wipers which give not only slow and fast speeds but..eight wipes in conjunction with the *screen⁓wash. 1976Scotsman 24 Dec. 11/2 Sachets of screenwash additive are useful, however, not only in preventing washers from freezing in cold weather but in dissolving the road grime and grease that can smear or even scratch the windscreen.
1958Observer 17 Aug. 15/7 The test car also had the simplest and most efficient *screen washer I have seen so far. 1962[see accessory n. 1]. 1977Lancashire Life Mar. 118/4 It still has cloth seats, heated rear window and electric screenwashers.
1928E. Wallace Double iii. 32 With his *screen-wiper swinging madly, his mackintosh black with driving rain, Dick Staines came to Brighton. 1930Punch 22 Jan. 92/3 Aggie must have something, a new mascot, a screen-wiper.., a new wing. 1970Railway Mag. Oct. 558/1 With the aid of..efficient screen-wipers on the locomotive, there was no difficulty in sighting the signals. 1977Lancashire Life Mar. 118/4 The screenwipers have not been re-set for right hand drive.
1648–58Hexham s.v. Voye, The Top of some *schreene-worke. 1850Parker's Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5) I. 416 The oldest piece of screen-work that has been noticed is at Compton church, Surrey. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. II. 354 Unhappily, behind the screen⁓work of these poor saints, a whole Irish insurrection was blazing in madness and fury. 1904Gasquet Eng. Monastic Life ii. 20 In some places, it is true, certain screenwork divisions appear to have been devised.
b. spec. with reference to the cinema or television screen, esp. in the transf. sense (see 1 d above), as screen actor, screen actress, screen adaptation, screen beauty, screen credit, screen début, screen fan, screen fever, screen kiss, screen rights, screen set, screen star, screen story, screen version, screen world, screen worthiness; screen-filling, screen-struck [after stage-struck], screen-worthy adjs.; screenplay, the script from which a motion picture film is produced; formerly, the film itself; also attrib.; screen test, a filmed test of the performing abilities of a prospective film actor, or the film shot on such an occasion; hence screen-test v. trans.; screen time, the time allotted to or occupied by a film or television production; screen writer, a writer of film scripts; hence screen-writing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1915Film Fun Dec. 1 The screen actor has the best of it in holiday season. 1977Times 7 Oct. 11/4 Valentino..was actually a very good screen actor.
1916N.Y. Times 8 May 7 It is rumored that never again is this clever screen actress to play such a rôle. 1939A. Huxley Let. 18 Nov. (1969) 448, I am working at present on the screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill ii. 38 It is the face of one of our famous screen beauties. 1922Screen credit [see credit n. 13 d]. 1977R. Ludlum Chancellor MS. vi. 78 They're willing to..remove your name from the screen credits..not the title, of course.
1915N.Y. Times 22 Nov. 12 ‘The Martyrs of the Alamo’, the Triangle picture in which Douglas Fairbanks made his screen début. 1923T. Lane What's Wrong with Movies? vi. 100 The general run of screen fans want to do very little thinking when they go to the cinema.
1915Screen fever [see screen-struck adj.]. a1963J. Lusby in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 231 The Eccentric's reel..concluded with a screen-filling close-up of the stolid face of an armourer.
1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 101/2 Shirley Temple gets her first screen kiss in a picture you'll never forget. 1971Petticoat 17 July 28/3 Peter..was signed up by Walt Disney to give Hayley Mills..her first screen kiss.
1916N.Y. Times 7 Feb. 9/3 (heading) Anna Held's debut in a screen play. 1925Ladies' Home Jrnl. Jan. 37/3 Screen play by Walter Woods. 1938A. Huxley Let. 18 Nov. (1969) 437 They have followed their usual procedure and handed my treatment over to several other people to make a screen-play out of. 1945R. Chandler Let. 13 Oct. in R. Chandler Speaking (1966) 43 He has gone so long without writing—unless you count a couple of screenplay jobs. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 24 June 750/3 A screenplay..is subsumed in the completed movie. 1980Times 22 Nov. 4/8 Mr Cimino has written his own screenplay.
1920Q. Rev. July 185 The feverish haste exhibited at the present time to secure the screen-rights of classics in the world of fiction. 1974She Jan. 83/1 Bought screen rights to Boy Shoots Girl... Now to find writer to do Treatment.
1948‘T. Claymore’ Nest of Vipers x. 195 Listening critically, I felt that she needed a Hollywood screen set and a background of soft music for these speeches.
1914R. Grau Theatre Science x. 211 So here we have the unique spectacle of an idolized screen star earning a prima donna's honorarium for stage appearances at night only. 1977J. Aiken Last Movement ix. 167 Seeing a screen star for the first time in the flesh.
1914R. Grau Theatre Science xii. 256 Thousands are impatiently awaiting the appearence of those publications which fictionize the screen stories. 1946D. L. Sayers Unpopular Opinions 124 Wishing..that they too could live like the heroes and heroines of these witless million-dollar screen stories.
1915Film Fun Dec. 1 Screen-struck. Everybody wants to get into motion pictures. It is an epidemic of screen fever. 1922I. & H. Klumph Screen Acting xvi. 89 Then..she went back to her work of checking up on the scenes..and gave her screen test no more thought. 1933Sat. Even. Post 17 June 14/1 Harry Rapf, one of the M-G-M executives, happened to see me dancing at the Winter Garden in New York City and asked me to make a screen test. 1952M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) iv. 57 The cold peroxided beauties who..were here while waiting for a screen-test. 1970Sunday Times 26 Apr. 29/2 He screen-tested me... And I was offered one of the three star parts in the production.
1948Hansard Commons 21 Jan. 219 Overseas producers..enjoy the same proportion of British screen time they have had in the past few years. 1973Listener 20 Sept. 391/1 In a typical year, the BBC sells 11,000 hours of television screen-time abroad. 1978Broadcast 29 May 10/1 The problem of screen-time for groups on the extreme political fringe.
1915N.Y. Times 20 Sept. 9 The screen version of ‘Peer Gynt’ begins with the reindeer ride and ends with the rescue of Peer. 1933Radio Times 14 Apr. 75/1 In Cavalcade (both stage and screen versions). 1981Listener 1 Jan. 22/1 The screen version of David Copperfield..went way beyond the accepted running time of movies of that period.
1915Film Flashes 11 Dec. 4 Are we to live only for ourselves, forgetting our brothers and sisters of the screen world? 1928Daily Express 7 May 9/2 The production..has been booked by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, a booking generally regarded throughout the world as the hall⁓mark of screen-worthiness. 1928Daily Tel. 12 June 10 Rachel... Her brief meteoric career needed no fantastic embellishments to make her story screenworthy. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 23 May 582/2 Though the screen-play for The Tin Drum was ‘revised and augmented’ by Günter Grass, Volker Schlöndorff's success has relatively little to do with making phrases screenworthy.
1921Moving Picture Stories 12 Aug. 26/3 A Robertson-Cole picture..written by..two well-known screen writers. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Aug. p. xxviii/5 How many genuine screen-writers have achieved any success in this country? 1974Listener 17 Jan. 68/1 My first opportunities as a screenwriter were..in this country, but my career..has been in Hollywood.
1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? vi. 124 Have screen-writing job for you. 1973[see pot-boiler 2 a]. 1977Listener 20 Oct. 498/1 In the 1930s, it was fairly easy to get a handle on the politics of the screenwriting community.
c. With reference to VDU screens, as screen display; screen-based, screen-oriented adjs.; screen dump, the process of causing what is displayed on a screen to be printed out; an occurrence of this, or the resulting print-out; screen editor, a program that enables one to edit what is displayed on a screen; so screen editing; screen print, a facility for producing a print-out of what is displayed on a VDU; (see also in sense 9 a).
1978Business Systems & Equipment Mar. 59/1 This small electronics company..has recently designed a *screen-based stand alone word processor with floppy disc storage and a daisy-wheel printer. 1985Marketing 28 Feb. 43/1 It [sc. Telex]..provides a written record, which, unlike its screen based equivalents, can act as a long-term reminder to the recipient.
1982Computerworld 11 Jan. 65 Features include two pages of *screen display, upper- and lowercase keyboard [etc.].
1981Kilobaud: Microcomput. Apr. 174/3 Vendors of *screen dump programs. 1983Austral. Personal Computer Apr. 55/3 Graphics output, using special dot symbol spokes, can cope with Lisa screen dumps, but they are not really as good as the dot matrix version. 1985Personal Computer World Feb. 62/1 (Advt.), Screen dump rom available for {pstlg}11.50.
1976Jap. Telecommunications Rev. Jan. 37 CRT Character Display Equipment..performs a high level of *screen editing function. 1984DEC Professional Dec. 83 We discussed full screen editing and split screen windows.
1979Software Pract. & Experience Feb. 121 Building a screen editor as a front end to a line editor..permits one computer to edit another's files. 1982C. P. Pfleeger Machine Organiz. vii. 165 A text editor can be either a line editor, a cursor editor, or a screen editor... To a screen editor, a file is a series of pages, each page being just as much material as will fit onto the screen of the display terminal. 1985Daily Tel. 8 July 11/8 Most modern machines now have sufficiently good screen editors to permit an alternative and simpler approach which is ideal for documents up to one page long.
1979Rec. 12th Asilomar Conf. 1978 437/1 *Screen-oriented editors differ from other editors in their use of high speed video terminals to display the contents of large sections of a file being edited. 1985Jrnl. Computers in Math. & Sci. Teaching IV. ii. 24 A microcomputer..for interactive, screen oriented, problem solving in reaction thermodynamics.
1981Micro (U.S.) Sept. 27/1 The program described in this article is a *screen print utility for the Atari 400/800. 198380 Microcomputing Jan. 22/3 The current Genie has a 1·5K ROM..that adds a lowercase driver, a flashing repeating cursor, screen print, [etc.]. 1985Computerworld 13 May 82/4 The product is said to support IBM Virtual Diskette file transfer software and transfer to disk storage, screen print and color or monochrome displays.
▸ screen saver n. Computing a program (originally designed to prevent screen damage) which after a set period of inactivity automatically replaces an unchanging screen display with an image (usually an animated sequence) or a blank screen; an image or graphics sequence displayed by such a program.
1982Computerworld 26 July 58 The unit reportedly comes with a standard 3001 pages of memory, a *screen saver, plain English setups and user-programmable function keys. 1994Guardian 22 Sept. (Online Suppl.) 7/2 The screen-savers include Hopping Elephants, Man With Baby Carriage and Queen Victoria. 2000T. White Poet in N. Blincoe & M. Thorne All hail New Puritans 160 They'll be syndicated and become an office cult, reproduced on desk calendars and screen savers.
▪ II. screen, n.2 Cant. ? Obs.|skriːn|
[? Connected with screeve n. and v.]
A bank-note. Chiefly in queer screen, a forged bank-note.
1789G. Parker Life's Painter of Variegated Characters xv. 153 Rum screen, a bank note. Ibid. 179 Screen, a bank note. 1795H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash Lang. (ed. 2) 53 Skreen, a bank note. 1811Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Screen, Queer screens; forged bank notes. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Queer screens, forged Bank⁓notes. 1830Lytton P. Clifford xxxi, Bill Fang..was stretched for smashing queer screens. 1864Hotten's Slang Dict., Screen, a bank note. Queer Screen, a forged bank note.
▪ III. screen, v.|skriːn|
Forms: 5 screane, 7 screene, skreene, 7–9 skreen, 7– screen.
[f. screen n.1]
1. a. trans. To shelter or protect with or as with a screen, from heat, wind, light, missiles, or the like.
c1632Poem in Athenæum 27 Jan. (1883) 121/2 From whose inward light The Angells with their wings must skreene their sight. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 30 Back'd with a ridge of hills That screen'd the fruits of the earth and seats of men From cold Septentrion blasts. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Eye, To screen his Eye, he will presently cover it therewith. 1784Cowper Task iii. 440 He therefore timely warn'd himself supplies Her want of care, screening and keeping warm The plenteous bloom. 1823W. Scoresby Jrnl. Whale Fish. 201 The adjoining mountains..skreened the ice near their bases, from the solar rays. 1879Geikie Geol. in Encycl. Brit. X. 268/2 Being hard, they resist the action of the falling drops and screen the earth below them.
b. To shut off by something interposed. rare.
Now only with off.
1700Dryden Sigism. & Guisc. 211 The Curtains closely drawn, the Light to skreen. 1861Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1871) 384 You will perhaps try whether the magnetic power is not to be screened off.
c. Electr. To protect from external electric or magnetic fields; to cover (a wire or circuit) in order to prevent it from radiating electrical interference.
1922Wireless World 1 July 416/1 The problem is to screen the receiving apparatus from the effects induced directly by the oscillator. 1931B.B.C. Year-bk. 1932 422 It will..be advisable to screen the coils L1, L2, the tuning condenser K1, and the secondary circuit, L3, K2. 1950Engineering 3 Feb. 140/2 On wireless-carrying vehicles electrical equipment must be screened. 1960Practical Wireless XXXVI. 393/1 The lead from the input socket is screened. 1971L. T. Agger Introd. Electr. viii. 119 It is sometimes necessary..to screen a space from external electrostatic influence, as in protection against lightning of buildings containing explosives.
2. a. To hide from view as with a screen; to shelter from observation or recognition.
1686Goad Celest. Bodies ii. iv. 196 Clouds..shall skreen the Sun from us. 1711–12Swift Jrnl. to Stella 6 Jan., When he came out, Mr. Secretary..walked so near him that he quite screened me from him with his great periwig. 1784Cowper Task i. 168 Our fav'rite elms, That screen the herdsman's solitary hut. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxv, A small hedge, which imperfectly screened the alley in which I was walking. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India iii. vii. III. 357 The Coorgs effectually screened themselves behind the bushes. 1893Hansard's Parl. Deb. 30 Mar. 1500 To send vessels to sea whose lights are screened on different principles.
b. Mil. To employ a body of men to cover (an army's movements). Also absol. (Cf. screen n.1 3 c.)
1881Bell tr. C. von Schmidt's Instr. Training Cavalry 173 In all these different cases the leading thought..must..be to see without being seen, reconnoitre and screen. 1884Trench Cavalry in Mod. War 270 The duties to be performed by the division—i.e...to screen the movements of one's own army, to unmask those of the enemy [etc.]. 1899Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 1/3 The duty of reconnoitring the foe and screening the friend.
c. In immaterial senses.
1670Cotton Espernon i. iv. 151 The artifice of his Enemies so skreen'd his merits from his Majesties observation, that he receiv'd very little thanks for his labour. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 6 There are some Infidels among us, that..to avoid the odious name of Atheists, would shelter and skreen themselves under a new one of Deists. 1813Shelley Q. Mab v. 27 Compelled by its deformity, to screen With flimsy veil of justice and of right, Its unattractive lineaments.
d. To surround (a nuclear reactor or other source of ionizing radiation) with a mass of material intended to absorb the radiation.
1915Colwell & Russ Radium, X Rays & Living Cell vi. 160 If the radium applicator is screened by the interposition of ·5 mm. of lead..the results are different. 1931G. E. Birkett Radium Therapy ii. 36 The radium in solution should be heavily screened to protect people working in adjacent rooms. 1946Ann. Reg. 1945 354 The pile was not screened well enough to protect the personnel from the injurious effects of the intense radiation emitted by the unstable fission products.
e. U.S. Sports. To shield (a team-mate) from attack by opponents; to act as a shield against (opponents). Also intr. Cf. screen n.1 3 g.
1922P. D. Haughton How to watch & understand Football 7 To stop the runner who is so thoroughly screened by interferers. 1951Sun (Baltimore) 24 Dec. (B ed.) 13/2 Watch when they screen for a shooter [in Basketball]. 1961[see screen n.1 3 g].
3. a. To shield or protect from hostility or impending danger; esp. to save (an offender) from punishment or exposure; to conceal (a person's offence).
c1485Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 58 If I shold therfore screane myself, & my frynds also, & not put me therfore to hurt. 1630Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. cxii. (1633) 283 But how happy am I, if the interposition of my Saviour..may screene mee from the deserved wrath of..God. 1693Locke Educ. §214 (1699) 376 He that Travels with them is to skreen them; get them out when they have run themselves into the Briars [etc.]. 1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 141/2 Were there any Hopes that he could ever be brought to skreen the most notorious Corruption, I dare say he would meet with the Approbation of this virtuous Society. 1780New Newgate Cal. V. 206 All his artifices could not screen him from the justice of his country. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 696 Mr. Hastings had taken presents, and skreened himself by giving them up at last to the Company. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. II. 244 Great exertions were made to screen him from justice, but in vain. 1850Browning Easter Day ix, No misery could screen The holders of the pearl of price From Caesar's envy. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life II. 4, I more than once helped—or at any rate screened—a man who had taken a drop too much.
†b. intr. To interpose oneself as a protection.
1655tr. Com. Hist. Francion v. 11, I..took no care to approach to his assistance, being unwilling to skreen betwixt him and the abuse.
4. a. trans. To sift by passing through a ‘screen’.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort., May 67 Mixing it [sc. earth] with..very mellow Soil, screen'd and prepar'd some time before. 1693Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 251 A Skreen..with which one Man will Skreen as much Lime..as two Men can with a Sieve. 1763Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 79 If it is necessary to screen all the corn at this time, a small screen is fixed under the aperture of the second floor. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 191 Sea-coal ashes, sifted or skreened through a sieve or skreen ½ an inch wide. 1847Act 10 & 11 Vict. c. 89 §28 Every Person who..slacks, sifts or screens any Lime. 1901Daily Chron. 11 July 7/6 Screening water through fine gauze was sometimes substituted for filtration.
†b. fig. Obs.
1657Reeve God's Plea 249 How ought we to skreen and riddle our soules concerning the steyn of blood-shed.
c. To examine systematically in order to discover suitability for admission or acceptance; spec. (a) to examine (a person) for unwanted attributes or objects, esp. political disloyalty; (b) to test (chemicals) for their suitability for use as drugs.
1943Sun (Baltimore) 14 May 1/3 These offices ‘screen’ a list of prospects for the employers. 1945Manch. Guardian 18 July 8/1 The recruits had come forward from the disbanded Guardia del Popolo and from most various sources and all would be screened carefully. 1949Cancer Res. IX. 625/1 More than 1,000 chemical agents have been screened against Sarcoma 37 in vivo. 1956W. Graham Sleeping Partner x. 82 When you said you were bringing an assistant to Harwell, of course we had to have her screened. 1958Listener 19 June 1015/2, I am within a few yards of the Customs desk... My wife had packed all the declared trinkets in one bag, and that is all he wants to see. He screens it in fifteen seconds flat. 1962Sunday Times 14 Jan. 1/7 Every flight arriving from Europe was screened by medical and immigration officials for Pakistani immigrants. 1970New Scientist 11 June 538/2 Drug companies are trying to weed out drug-takers from their staffs and to screen applicants so as to avoid taking on more. 1971Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 15/7 Electronic equipment at airports to ‘screen’ passengers for weapons and so on. 1974M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. iv. 77 Of the 15,000 compounds our government screened as substitute antimalarials, only two..were found to be superior to quinine. 1979Daily Tel. 21 May 12/7 Mr Corliss describes only those events which were reported in reputable scientific journals, where all material is rigorously screened, and ‘mis-identifications and hoaxes are kept to a minimum’.
d. To select or separate by means of a screening process.
1943Sun (Baltimore) 10 Dec. 6/7 The Attorney General said he believed it was possible to screen loyal from disloyal Japanese. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 5 June 8/3 The experiment involves 20 communities, screened from an original list of 250 where some citizen efforts at decision-making already have cropped up.
e. To examine (a person, esp. as one of a large group) for disease or defects other than as a response to a request for treatment.
1944[implied in screening vbl. n. 2 c]. 1950Amer. Jrnl. Public Health XL. 275/1 A population group in one city is screened for tuberculosis. A separate program is conducted..to screen a population group for diabetes. 1970Observer 12 Apr. 25/5 We could therefore soon be in a position to screen the whole population to see which recessive genes they carry. 1970Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 8/4 Mass radiography is the easiest way for the man in the street to be screened.
f. To examine or search (data or an article) for any content of particular relevance or interest.
1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 27 The committee had begun to function that soon afterwards was screening physics news for items of possible military importance. 1964Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CXV. 569 The system proposed..allows the raw experimental data to be screened and digested directly by a small fast hybrid computer. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 228/2 For the genetic resources material to be of any value to the breeder it must be evaluated or ‘screened’.
g. screen out: to sift or separate; to exclude or eliminate by some screening process.
1943Sun (Baltimore) 3 Aug. 11/1 The stalks are put through a mechanical disintegrator which reduces them to a juicy puree and screens out the toughest fibers. 1946Cancer Res. VI. 490/1 In resorting to histologic and cytologic studies to screen out the inactive compounds we have made the assumption that damage induced by active compounds would become evident within 48 hours after injection. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 51 There is an increasing tendency to screen out all argot and slang in the presence of outsiders. 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour x. 195 The method..releases extremely powerful emotional forces, and those not able to profit from them should be screened out. 1968International Herald Tribune 3 Sept. 7/3 The FBI has improved its methods of screening out inaccurate reporting. 1971Sci. Amer. Oct. 42/3 The detector was located underground to screen out relatively low-energy particles produced in the atmosphere. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 54/2 The company's instructions to its managers do seem to indicate an employment policy favoring people of conventional outlook and screening out people who might harbor tendencies towards nonconformist intellectualizing. 1979Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Feb. 17 The committee will not screen out applications.
5. In the Inns of Court: To post upon a screen or notice-board.
1870Echo 10 Jan., An attempt was made by the Benchers to shame them into honesty by ‘screening’ or posting their names in the dining hall. 1895Daily News 22 Oct. 5/3 The Treasurer of the Inner Temple..has caused to be screened in the vestibule of the Hall an invitation [etc.].
6. Printing. To obtain an image of (a picture, type, etc.) through a screen (screen n.1 7).
1948R. R. Karch Graphic Arts Procedures ix. 247 Both type matter and illustrations are screened. 1952R. W. & E. W. Polk Practice of Printing (rev. ed.) xxiv. 198 In display, sometimes a heading or a block of type is screened to create a desired effect. 1972Physics Bull. Sept. 532/1 Continuous tone pictures are ‘screened’ to allow reproduction by normal printing methods.
7. To show (a picture) on a screen; to project on to a screen as with a magic lantern or film projector; to exhibit as a production for the cinema or television. Also intr., to be (well or ill) suited for reproducing on a cinema or television screen.
1913Writer's Mag. Nov. 188/2 Because you fail to sell your story, in spite of the fact that you see others of the same type screened, will not be proof that editors are prejudiced against you. 1915Durham County Advertiser 18 June 8/7 ‘Tommy Atkins’, a stirring patriotic picture..will be screened at an early date. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill ii. 67 She'll screen well, and she's one of the few that can turn on the tears when she wants to. 1962Rep. Comm. Broadc. 1960 66 Programmes of national appeal screened by all or most of the companies. 1973Guardian 10 Apr. 1/6 A revised version of Granada Television's controversial documentary about Mr John Poulson..will be screened on April 30. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 18 Dec. 9/2 When the movie was screened, the key obscenity standard was whether a sex work was ‘utterly without redeeming social value’.
8. Comb.: screen-berth (see quot.).
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Screen-berth, pieces of canvas temporarily hung round a berth, for warmth and privacy.
Add:[7.] b. intr. for pass. Of a film, television programme, etc.: to be shown or screened.
1986Auckland Star 7 Feb. a1 The series will screen between 5.30 pm and 7 pm. 1986Los Angeles Times 24 Feb. vi. 2/1 ‘Scandal’ (1950), the most rarely seen of all Kurosawa films, screens Thursday only at the Nuart as part of its Kurosawa Festival. |