screed

[skreed]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR screed ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.

an informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.

Building Trades.

a strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface.
a wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like.
a board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.

British Dialect. a fragment or shred, as of cloth.

Scot.

a tear or rip, especially in cloth.
a drinking bout.

verb (used with or without object)

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

Origin of screed

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for screed

series, file, table, calendar, poll, ballot, archive, index, menu, program, draft, inventory, dictionary, schedule, tally, catalog, ticket, account, bill, agenda

Examples from the Web for screed

Contemporary Examples of screed

No word yet from Commentary (which has devoted a grand total of one screed to the hunger strikers thus far).
Striking a Deal
Peter Beinart
May 14, 2012
Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, author of the screed, The Israel Lobby, are right about that.
The Arab Lobby Rules America
Alan M. Dershowitz
August 24, 2010
The media took notice: My screed appeared in New York magazine and on various gossip blogs.
Mea Culpa, Kiddo
Marty Beckerman
August 14, 2009

Historical Examples of screed

This screed, remarkable as it was, had no mystery for Goodwin.
Cabbages and Kings
O. Henry
I am sending this as an antidote for my doleful Sunday screed.
Mistress Anne
Temple Bailey
I have no leisure now for this screed, mother; read it to me later, an you will.
Robin Hood
Paul Creswick
Now lets have that screed again, Tom, and Ill have a go at translating it.
Tom Fairfield in Camp
Allen Chapman
I offered him a shilling if he could "screed me aff effectual calling."
An American Four-In-Hand in Britain
Andrew Carnegie

British Dictionary definitions for screed

screed

noun

a long or prolonged speech or piece of writing

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

a mixture of cement, sand, and water applied to a concrete slab, etc, to give a smooth surface finish

Scot a rent or tear or the sound produced by this

Word Origin for screed

C14: probably variant of Old English scrēade shred

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for screed

early 14c., "fragment," also "strip of cloth," from northern England dialectal variant of Old English screade (see shred (n.)). Meaning "lengthy speech" is first recorded 1789, from notion of reading from a long list.