1. A movable device, especially a framed construction such as a room divider or a decorative panel, designed to divide, conceal, or protect.
2. one that serves to protect, conceal, or divide: security guards formed a screen around the president. A screen of evergreens afforded privacy from our neighbors.
3. A coarse sieve used for sifting out fine particles, as of sand, gravel, or coal.
4. A system for preliminary appraisal and selection of personnel as to their suitability for particular jobs.
5. A window or door insertion of framed wire or plastic mesh used to keep out insects and permit air flow.
6. the white or silver surface on which a picture is projected for viewing.
7. the movie industry: a star of stage and screen. also called silver screen.
8. electronics the phosphorescent surface on which an image is displayed, as on a television, computer monitor, or radar receiver.
9. computer science the information or image displayed at a given time on such a computer monitor: printing a hard copy of the screen.
10. electronics the electrode placed between the anode and the control grid in a tetrode valve. also called screen grid.
11. printing A glass plate marked off with crossing lines, placed before the lens of a camera when photographing for halftone reproduction.
12. A body of troops or ships sent in advance of or surrounding a larger body to protect or warn of attack.
13. sports A block, set with the body, that impedes the vision or movement of an opponent.
14. football A screen pass.
15. to provide with a screen: screen a porch.
16. to conceal from view with or as if with a screen. see synonyms at block, hide1.
17. to protect, guard, or shield.
18. to separate or sift out (fine particles of sand, for example) by means of a sieve or screen.
19. to show or project (a movie, for example) on a screen.
20. to examine (a job applicant, for example) systematically in order to determine suitability.
21. to test or evaluate (a student) to determine placement in an educational system or to identify specific learning needs.
22. to test or examine for the presence of disease or infection: screen blood; screen a patient.
23. to subject to genetic screening.
24. sports to block the vision or movement of (an opponent) with the body.
25. sports to obscure an opponent's view of (a shot) by positioning oneself between the opponent and the shooter.

1. A physical divider intended to block an area from view.
2. A material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass.
3. the informational viewing area of electronic output devices; the result of the output.
4. the viewing area of a movie, or moving picture or slide presentation
5. an offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.
6. the protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects
7. in mining and quarries, a frame supporting a mesh of bars or wires used to classify fragments of stone by size, allowing the passage of fragments whose a diameter is smaller than the distance between the bars or wires.
8. A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.
9. A collection of less-valuable vessels that travel with a more valuable one for the latter's protection.
10. to filter by passing through a screen.
11. to remove information, or censor intellectual material from viewing
12. to present publicly (on the screen).
13. to fit with a screen.

1. anything that separates or cuts off inconvenience, injury, or danger; that which shelters or conceals from view; a shield or protection.
2. A dwarf wall or partition carried up to a certain height for separation and protection, as in a church, to separate the aisle from the choir, or the like.
3. A surface, as that afforded by a curtain, sheet, wall, etc., upon which an image, as a picture, is thrown by a magic lantern, solar microscope, etc.
4. A long, coarse riddle or sieve, sometimes a revolving perforated cylinder, used to separate the coarser from the finer parts, as of coal, sand, gravel, and the like.
5. an erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to enable him to see ball better.
6. a netting, usu. of metal, contained in a frame, used mostly in windows or doors to allow in fresh air while excluding insects.
7. the surface of an electronic device, as a television set or computer monitor, on which a visible image is formed. the screen is frequently the surface of a cathode-ray tube containing phosphors excited by the electron beam, but other methods for causing an image to appear on the screen are also used, as in flat-panel displays.
8. the motion-picture industry; motion pictures.
9. to provide with a shelter or means of concealment; to separate or cut off from inconvenience, injury, or danger; to shelter; to protect; to protect by hiding; to conceal.
10. to pass, as coal, gravel, ashes, etc., through a screen in order to separate the coarse from the fine, or the worthless from the valuable; to sift.
11. to examine a group of objects methodically, to separate them into groups or to select one or more for some purpose.
12. to inspect the qualifications of candidates for a job, to select one or more to be hired.
13. to test a large number of samples, in order to find those having specific desirable properties.

1. to shelter or protect from inconvenience, injury, danger, or observation; cover; conceal.
2. to sift or riddle by passing through a screen: as, to screen coal.
3.
4. A covered framework, partition, or curtain, either movable or fixed, which serves to protect from the heat of the sun or of a fire, from rain, wind, or cold, or from other inconvenience or danger, or to shelter from observation, conceal, shut off the view, or secure privacy: as, a fire-screen; a folding screen; a window-screen, etc.; hence, such a covered framework, curtain, etc., used for some other purpose: as, a screen upon which images may be cast by a magic lantern; in general, any shelter or means of concealment.
5. specifically, in architecture:
6. an ornamental partition of wood, stone, or metal, usually so placed in a church or other building as to shut out an aisle from the choir, a private chapel from a transept, the nave from the choir, the high altar from the east end, an altar-tomb from a public passage, or to fill any similar purpose. see perclose, and cut under organ-screen.
7. in some medieval and similar halls, a partition extending across the lower end, forming a lobby within the main entrance-doors, and having ofteu a gallery above.
8. an architecturally decorated wall inclosing a courtyard or the like. such a feature as the entire facade of a church may be considered as a screen when it does not correspond with the interior structure, as is commonly the case in italian and frequent in english churches, but is merely a decorative mask for the building behind it. see cut under reredos.
9. A kind of riddle or sieve.
10. A large scarf forming a kind of plaid.
11. A screen supported on cross-rails, feet, or the like, enabling it to stand firmly, and with hinged flaps which when opened increase its width.
12.
13.
14. A transparent plate having ruled upon its surface lines, parallel or crossed, placed immediately in front of the sensitive plate in the manufacture of a half-tone negative, in order to break up the shadows by diffraction.

1. project onto a screen for viewing
2. partition consisting of a decorative frame or panel that serves to divide a space
3. examine in order to test suitability
4. a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something
5. a white or silvered surface where pictures can be projected for viewing
6. the display that is electronically created on the surface of the large end of a cathode-ray tube
7. test or examine for the presence of disease or infection
8. a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles
9. a protective covering consisting of netting; can be mounted in a frame
10. separate with a riddle, as grain from chaff
11. a protective covering that keeps things out or hinders sight
12. prevent from entering
13. the personnel of the film industry
14. protect, hide, or conceal from danger or harm
15. examine methodically
16. a door that consists of a frame holding metallic or plastic netting; used to allow ventilation and to keep insects from entering a building through the open door