screed

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of writing (such as an article, letter, or list) or a speech, especially if long.

   Eh, Mr Henry! but the carle gae him a screed o' doctrine! Ye might hae heard him a mile down the wind—He routed like a cow in a fremd loaning.

2. 2
   noun

   Chiefly in the plural form screeds: a large quantity.

   It uses a lot of footage of Japanese actors, and screeds of character text, making it unlikely to see a European release.

3. 3
   noun

   Senses relating to building construction and masonry.

   When applied to large surfaces, strips or screeds of wood should be fixed to float from; and when the plain surface is formed, it is finished with the handfloat.

4. 4
   noun

   A piece or narrow strip cut or torn off from a larger whole; a shred.

   "Weel done!" cried Mrs. Smith. "I trow ye gae her a screed o' your mind!".

From Middle English screde [and other forms], a variant of shrede (“fragment, scrap; strip of cloth; strip cut off from a larger piece; band or thread woven into fabric; element, streak”) (whence shred (noun)), from Old English sċrēad, sċrēade (“a piece cut off; paring, shred”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“a piece, shred; a cut, crack”), from *skraudaną (“to cut up, shred”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”). The English word is cognate with Old Frisian skrēd. Doublet of escrow, scroll, and shred.

Topics