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optical character recognition machine consisting of a scan head, a computer processor, and an output device. The scan head reads a scannable image which is then interpreted by the computer and output in a usable format. For example, a direct-mail marketer might use a scanner to read invoices that have been returned with payment checks. The scanner picks up a code on the invoice that indicates which customer is making the payment and how much was owed. The computer then formulates an instruction to the customer file that the customer's record should be marked paid.

Scanners come in a variety of forms capable of reading preprinted alphanumeric characters in specific fonts, barcodes, or hand-printed letters or symbols. Payment scanners, called encoders, can scan an alphanumeric scan line on invoices and can encode and endorse the checks at the same time. Document scanners that can read at speeds of 18,000 documents per hour are used to enter responses to direct-mail promotions. Wand scanners are used to read barcoded merchandise information such as stock number and price. With the use of barcodes, prices can be changed, without changing price tags, merely by changing the instructions in the computer system that interprets the barcodes. See also scan document; scan entry; scanner data.

Device that can read or scan typed characters from paper (hard) copy and automatically transfer this information onto something else.
See also machine readable.

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IN BRIEF: A person who glances at something in a hurried manner; a machine that duplicates a page of a book or another publication into a computer.

He finally had a scanner to go with his computer.

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an instrument or device used to measure or sample the distribution of some quantity or condition in a particular system, area, or region, e.g. to measure the distribution of colour or radioactivity on a chromatogram or electrophoretogram, or to measure the radial distribution of light absorbance in a cell in an ultracentrifuge.

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For a list of words related to scanner, see:

• Hardware and Peripherals - scanner: device that digitally records images and text from paper

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See words rhyming with "scanner."

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - scanner, skanderingsudstyr

Nederlands (Dutch)
radarantenne, scanner

Français (French)
n. - (Méd) scanner, lecteur optique, scanner, déchiffreur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Radarantenne, (Bild)abtaster, Scanner

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (Η/Υ) σαρωτής, σκάνερ

Italiano (Italian)
scanditore

Português (Portuguese)
n. - scanner (m)

Русский (Russian)
развертывающее устройство, сканер, многоточечный измерительный прибор

Español (Spanish)
n. - antena de radar, antena direccional, escáner

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - avsökare, bildläsare, inläsare, scanner

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
扫描器, 雷达扫描装置

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 掃描器, 雷達掃描裝置

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 자세히 조사하는 사람, (TV) 주사기, 스캐너 (컴퓨터)

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 探るような目つき, 視野

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أداة أوتوماتيكيه فاحصه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מכשיר הסורק תמלילים או תמונות לשם הכנסתם למחשב, מתקן למדידת עוצמת הקרינה, החזרת גלי קול וכו' מהגוף, אדם הקובע משקלי-שירה, בודק, בוחן, סורק‬

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