Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Screen?

\Screen\ (skr[=e]n), n. (Cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to enable him to see ball better.
\Screen\ (skr[=e]n), n. [OE. scren, OF. escrein, escran, F. ['e]cran, of uncertain origin; cf. G. schirm a screen, OHG. scirm, scerm a protection, shield, or G. schragen a trestle, a stack of wood, or G. schranne a railing.] 1. Anything that separates or cuts off inconvenience, injury, or danger; that which shelters or conceals from view; a shield or protection; as, a fire screen. Your leavy screens throw down. --Shak. Some ambitious men seem as screens to princes in matters of danger and envy. --Bacon. 2. (Arch.) 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.
\Screen\ (skr[=e]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Screened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Screening}.] 1. 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; as, fruits screened from cold winds by a forest or hill. They were encouraged and screened by some who were in high commands. --Macaulay. 2. 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.