Definition
nounA physical divider intended to block an area from view, or provide shelter from something dangerous.
nounA material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass., 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.
Sentence Examples
Come closer in order that you may see the screen better.
No matter what he plays on the screen, Tom looks great.
The match was shown on a giant screen outside the town hall.
Word Origin & History
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 Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”).
Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm.
An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skrank, from Proto-Germanic *skrankaz.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Your leavy screens throw down."
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:
"There is also great use of ambitious men in being screens to princes in matters of danger and envy"
— 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Ambition”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
"The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"You won't find me living for the screen […] I ain't equipment I ain't automatic"
— 1977, Sex Pistols, Spunk, “Problems” (song)
"The idea is to reach the 21st level of an enormous network of interlocking screens, each of which is covered with blocks that you bounce along on."
— 1988, Marcus Berkmann, Sophistry (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 30, June 1988