Screen Definition

skrēn

screened, screening, screens

noun

screens

A light, movable, covered frame or series of frames hinged together, serving as a portable partition to separate, conceal, shelter, or protect.

Webster's New World

Any partition or curtain serving such a purpose.

Webster's New World

Anything that functions to shield, protect, or conceal.

A smoke screen.

Webster's New World

A coarse mesh of wire, etc., used to sift out finer from coarser parts, as of sand or coal; sieve.

Webster's New World

A system for preliminary appraisal and selection of personnel as to their suitability for particular jobs.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

screened, screening, screens

To be screened or suitable for screening, as in films.

Webster's New World

To provide with a screen or screens.

Webster's New World

To separate, conceal, shelter, or protect, with or as with a screen.

Webster's New World

To sift through a coarse mesh so as to separate finer from coarser parts.

Webster's New World

To protect, guard, or shield.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Screen

Singular:

screen

Plural:

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 Old Dutch *scerm, skirm (“screen"), from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, screen"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide"). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen"), German Schirm (“screen").

From Wiktionary
Middle English screne from Old North French escren from Middle Dutch scherm shield, screen sker-¹ in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Alternate etymology derives Old French escren from Old Dutch *skrank (“barrier") (compare German Schrank (“cupboard"), Schranke (“fence").

From Wiktionary