Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A long monotonous speech or piece of writing.
- noun A strip of wood, plaster, or metal placed on a wall or pavement as a guide for the even application of plaster or concrete.
- noun A layer or strip of material used to level off a horizontal surface such as a floor.
- noun A smooth final surface of a substance, such as concrete, applied to a floor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To rend; tear.
- To repeat glibly; dash off with spirit.
- noun A piece torn off; a shred: as, a screed of cloth.
- noun A long strip of anything; hence, a prolonged tirade; a harangue.
- noun In plastering:
- noun A strip of mortar about 6 or 8 inches wide, by which any surface about to be plastered is divided into bays or compartments.
- noun A strip of wood similarly used.
- noun The act of rending or tearing; a rent; a tear.
- noun A band of paper or other material placed around a piece of cloth to keep the loose end in place, to prevent injury when cords are tied around it in packing, and for trade-mark and ornamental purposes. Generally used in sets of two.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A strip of plaster of the thickness proposed for the coat, applied to the wall at intervals of four or five feet, as a guide.
- noun A wooden straightedge used to lay across the plaster screed, as a limit for the thickness of the coat.
- noun Scot. A fragment; a portion; a shred.
- noun A breach or rent; a breaking forth into a loud, shrill sound.
- noun An harangue; a long tirade on any subject.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A long
discourse orharangue . - noun A piece of
writing . - noun A
tool , usually a long strip of wood or other material, for producing a smooth, flat surface on, for example, aconcrete floor or aplaster wall. - noun A smooth flat layer of concrete or similar material.
- verb construction, masonry To produce a smooth flat layer of concrete or similar material.
- verb construction, masonry To use a screed (tool).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a long monotonous harangue
- noun an accurately levelled strip of material placed on a wall or floor as guide for the even application of plaster or concrete
- noun a long piece of writing
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word screed.
Examples
-
Where in any of this screed is there anything that is not a bunch of opinionated backwash.
-
The fiasco being railed against in this screed is the one that broke iMacs and was ultimately solved by drawing on the CD with a Sharpie.
- Boing Boing 2005
-
You may be right about Hunter using the term screed, pejoratively, to apply to others’ rants, not his own.
-
Anyway, Glavin's screed is all downhill from there.
Trash talk 2009
-
Anyway, Glavin's screed is all downhill from there.
Archive 2009-11-01 2009
-
The entire premise of your screed is racist, too, but those two vile references should suffice.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Miguel Estrada Writes in Support of Elena Kagan’s Confirmation 2010
-
C'mon this screed is never gonna simply disappear into private life.
-
His unscientific screed is an academic embarrassment and blight on the reputation of this university.
Wayne Besen: Dangerous New Anti-Gay Sham Study Debunked Wayne Besen 2010
-
Grateful for the sensible dissents from the "dissenter" whose screed is just one more rant from those who avoid serious analytical arguments.
-
Your whole screed is based on an entitlement mentality.
‘Health care is important, of course. Now watch this drive.’ - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState 2009
rolig commented on the word screed
An article today in The Guardian on the mass-killer in Oregon reminded me of this word (perhaps my focus on words is a way of distracting myself from the hideous reality):
"The 26-year-old, obsessed by the macabre hoopla surrounding other mass shootings, left a note – a multi-page, angry screed, it was reported – and murdered with apparent yearning for posthumous notoriety."
"Screed" seems exactly the right word here, and this convinced me that it should be on my Fibrous Words list. By the way, notice the apt use also of the word notoriety.
October 4, 2015