Scope

noun
1.
extent or range of view, outlook, application, operation, effectiveness, etc.:
an investigation of wide scope.
2.
space for movement or activity; opportunity for operation:
to give one’s fancy full scope.
3.
extent in space; a tract or area.
4.
length:
a scope of cable.
5.
aim or purpose.
6.
Linguistics, Logic. the range of words or elements of an expression over which a modifier or operator has control:
In “old men and women,” “old” may either take “men and women” or just “men” in its scope.
7.
(used as a short form of microscope, oscilloscope, periscope, radarscope, riflescope, telescopic sight, etc.)
verb (used with object), scoped, scoping.
8.
Slang. to look at, read, or investigate, as in order to evaluate or appreciate.
Verb phrases
9.
scope out, Slang.

to look at or over; examine; check out:
a rock musician scoping out the audience before going on stage.
to master; figure out:
By the time we’d scoped out the problem, it was too late.

1.
a combining form meaning “instrument for viewing,” used in the formation of compound words:
telescope.
noun
1.
opportunity for exercising the faculties or abilities; capacity for action: plenty of scope for improvement
2.
range of view, perception, or grasp; outlook
3.
the area covered by an activity, topic, etc; range: the scope of his thesis was vast
4.
(nautical) slack left in an anchor cable
5.
(logic, linguistics) that part of an expression that is governed by a given operator: the scope of the negation in PV–(q∧r) is –(q∧r)
6.
(informal) short for telescope, microscope, oscilloscope
7.
(archaic) purpose or aim
verb (transitive)
8.
(informal) to look at or examine carefully
combining form
1.
indicating an instrument for observing, viewing, or detecting: microscope, stethoscope

-scope suff.
An instrument for viewing or observing: bronchoscope.

project
Software Evaluation and Certification Programme Europe.
An ESPRIT project.
(1995-04-12)

programming
The scope of an identifier is the region of a program source within which it represents a certain thing. This usually extends from the place where it is declared to the end of the smallest enclosing block (begin/end or procedure/function body). An inner block may contain a redeclaration of the same identifier in which case the scope of the outer declaration does not include (is “shadowed” or “occluded” by) the scope of the inner.
See also activation record, dynamic scope, lexical scope.
(1994-11-01)