wand / wänd/ • n. a long, thin stick or rod, in particular: ∎  a stick or rod thought to have magic properties, held by a magician, fairy, or conjuror and used in casting spells or performing tricks: the fairy godmother waves her magic wand and grants the heroine's wishes. ∎  a staff or rod held as a symbol of office. ∎  inf. a conductor's baton. ∎  a hand-held electronic device that can be passed over a bar code to read the encoded data. ∎  a device emitting a laser beam, used esp. to create a pointer on a projected image or text. ∎  a small stick with a brush at one end used for the application of mascara. ∎  Archery a target 6 feet (1.83 meters) high and 2 inches (5.8 cm) wide, set at 100 yards (91.44 meters) for men and 60 yards (54.86 meters) for women. ∎  (wands) one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to batons in others.

wand A small handheld device that can be used to read printed bar codes or characters. The device may have a shape similar to a pen, but is usually larger in diameter or may be designed to be grasped in the palm of the hand. In use it is stroked over the surface of the printing at a steady speed and an audible and/or visual signal is actioned to indicate if a satisfactory sensing of data was achieved. The wand usually only contains the sensors and the minimum of electronics and is connected to the control electronics by a flexible cable. Some recent wands include data storage and an OCR capability for reading text.

wand (dial.) straight, slender stick XII; slender stem, sapling XIII; rod or staff of office XV; magic rod. — ON. *wander (vǫndr) = Goth. wandus, prob. f. Gmc. *wand- *wind- turn, WEND, the basic notion being that of flexibility.