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Webster 1913 Edition

Screen

Screen

(skrēn)
,
Noun.
[OE.
scren
, OF.
escrein
,
escran
, F.
écran
, 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.
Shakespeare
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

(skrēn)
,
Verb.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Screen

SCREEN

,
Noun.
[L. cerno, excerno, Gr. to separate, to sift, to judge, to fight, contend skirmish. The primary sense of the root is to separate, to drive or force asunder, hence to sift, to discern, to judge, to separate or cut off danger.]
1.
Any thing that separates or cuts off inconvenience, injury or danger,; and hence, that which shelters or protects from danger, or prevents inconvenience. Thus a screen is used to intercept the sight, to intercept the heat of fire on the light of a candle.
Some ambitious men seem as screens to princes in matters of danger and envy.
2.
A riddle or sieve.

SCREEN

,
Verb.
T.
1.
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. Our houses and garments screen us from cold; an umbrella screens us from rain and the sun's rays. Neither rank nor money should screen from punishment the man who violates the laws.
2.
To sift or riddle; to separate the coarse part of any thing from the fine, or the worthless from the valuable.

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