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raster (RAS-tur) - n., a scanning pattern of parallel lines that form the image displayed on a cathode-ray tube of a television set or display screen; a bitmap image consisting of a grid of pixels stored as a sequence of lines (as on the cathode-ray tube display).
The with the passing of CRTs to LCD displays, the latter is now the better known meaning, but early televisions, the raster rows were clearly visible. Raster images store a record of each pixel, while vector images store a record of each curve. Coined in the early 1950s in German (and immediately adopted into English) from Latin rāstrum, toothed hoe/rake (from the parallel lines of a rake's path), from rādere, to scratch/scrape. So, a raking across the screen -- or maybe a razing, to use another cognate.
---L.
The with the passing of CRTs to LCD displays, the latter is now the better known meaning, but early televisions, the raster rows were clearly visible. Raster images store a record of each pixel, while vector images store a record of each curve. Coined in the early 1950s in German (and immediately adopted into English) from Latin rāstrum, toothed hoe/rake (from the parallel lines of a rake's path), from rādere, to scratch/scrape. So, a raking across the screen -- or maybe a razing, to use another cognate.
---L.
