screed

[ skreed ]

noun

1. a long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. an informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades.
   1. a strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface.
   2. a wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like.
   3. a board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. a fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot.
   1. a tear or rip, especially in cloth.
   2. a drinking bout.

verb (used with or without object)

1. Scot. to tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.

screed

/ skriːd /

noun

1. a long or prolonged speech or piece of writing
2. a strip of wood, plaster, or metal placed on a surface to act as a guide to the thickness of the cement or plaster coat to be applied
3. a mixture of cement, sand, and water applied to a concrete slab, etc, to give a smooth surface finish
4. a rent or tear or the sound produced by this

Word History and Origins

Origin of screed¹

1275–1325; Middle English screde torn fragment, irregular (with sc- for sh- ) representing Old English scrēade shred

Word History and Origins

Origin of screed¹

C14: probably variant of Old English scrēade shred

Example Sentences

Plus, this isn’t a screed as much as a search for solutions.

From Washington Post

His screed “The Politician” called President Eisenhower a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”

From Washington Post

For example, reviews that award between two and four stars are less likely to be screeds or fakes.

From Washington Post

Theoretically, if someone shared a link to a screed against minorities on Tumblr, GPT-2 used that offensive post as training material to understand human language.

From Fortune

"It is very arduous, very rugged with rocks, boulders and loose screed," she said.

From The Daily Beast

No word yet from Commentary (which has devoted a grand total of one screed to the hunger strikers thus far).

From The Daily Beast

One blackly funny screed in the book is directed at Harry and David's gift baskets.

From The Daily Beast

Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, author of the screed, The Israel Lobby, are right about that.

From The Daily Beast

The media took notice: My screed appeared in New York magazine and on various gossip blogs.

From The Daily Beast

Mony's the time I hae ettled to send ye a screed, but there was aye something that cam' i' the gait.

From Project Gutenberg

Swift and snappish, out came the long screed, while the old woman's eyes were fiery and her cheeks flushed.

From Project Gutenberg

Stephen read this screed to the end, then crumpled it in his fist and threw it angrily on the floor.

From Project Gutenberg

Only a few sentences of the long, incoherent screed in her hand penetrated to Kate's brain.

From Project Gutenberg

At any rate I did despatch you—supposedly via San Francisco—a really pretty long screed about a month ago.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• account
• agenda
• archive
• ballot
• bill
• calendar
• catalog
• checklist
• dictionary
• directory
• draft
• file
• index
• inventory
• lineup
• listing
• menu
• poll
• program
• schedule