▪ I. screed, n.
(skriːd)
Forms: 4 screade, 5 screde, 6 Sc. skreid, screid, 7 skread, 8–9 skreed, 7– screed.
[Variant of shred n., repr. OE. scréade; cf. scr- 1.]
I. 1. a. A fragment cut, torn, or broken from a main piece; in later use, a torn strip of some textile material. Also collect. sing. Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1315 Shoreham i. 824 Þaȝ eny best devoured hyt,..Ech screade Ȝet al so longe hys godes body, Ase lest þe fourme of brede. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 655/11 Hoc presegmen, screde. a 1460 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 252 Robes made of scredes. a 1510 Douglas Conscience 7 Of his habite out cuttit thay ane skreid. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 37 Scho raif hir clais all into screid. 1825 Croker Fairy Leg. I. 162 He has been sometimes seen going about with hardly a skreed to cover him. 1894 Crockett Raiders (ed. 3) 208 By a screed o' her druggit goown tangled on a blackthorn. |
b. A strip of land; a parcel of ground.
| 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 220 Thou Ahab, thou that by extortion gaines, Some Skreads of Land to better thy demains. 1644 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 126 Northscales, a town in Wawne [Walney] Iseland w{supc}{suph} is a narrow screed of land lying before Fourness. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §337 The sea encroached upon these cliffs, by taking off parallel Screeds. 1843 Lincolnsh. Topogr. Soc. Papers 64 The triangular screed of land lying on the north side of the Cross⁓cliff hill, was the ancient Swine-grun of Lincoln. 1889 Raine Hist. Hemingborough 165 There is a long screed or tongue of land called Bishop's Meadows. |
c. An edging, a bordering strip; the border or frill of a woman's cap. dial.
| 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Skreed, a border or shred of cloth. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xxiii, The screed, or frill of the cap, stood a quarter of a yard broad round the face of the wearer. 1855 Whitby Gloss., A Screed, a border or edge of paper, or other flat surface. ‘A cap screed.’ |
2. fig. a. A long roll or list; a lengthy discourse or harangue; a gossiping letter or piece of writing.
| a 1789 in Ross Helenore To Author p. vii, I here might gie a skreed of names. 1812 Chalmers Let. in Hanna Mem. (1849) I. 293 Mr. Manson threatens a long screed of poetry on the subject. 1816 Scott Fam. Let. 28 Dec. (1894) I. 392 The lady would not be kept from Eildon Hills when there was any worthy..to give her a screed of doctrine. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 31 Oct. 7/1 What Montaigne meant by his ‘emprunts’ was something altogether different from Mr. Tregellas's great screeds of cribbing. 1902 A. Dobson S. Richardson v. 117 Richardson's reply is a screed of malevolence. |
b. A piece, portion (of a literary work).
| 1829 Scott Jrnl. 12 June, After dinner I..took a screed of my novel. |
† c. A (drinking) bout. Obs.
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xxv, Naething confuses me unless it be a screed o'drink at an orra time. 1823 Galt Entail xxxii, Had he no deet amang hands in one o' his scrieds wi' the Lairds o' Kilpatrick, I'm sure I canna think what would hae come o' me and my first wife. 1828 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1856 II. 59 A skreed in any room of his house clears my head for a month. |
3. Plastering. a. An accurately levelled strip of plaster formed upon a wall or ceiling, as a guide in running a cornice or in obtaining a perfectly even surface in plastering; a strip of wood used for the same purpose. More generally in Building, a level strip of material formed or placed on any surface (e.g. a floor or a road) as a guide for the accurate finishing of it. Also, a levelled layer of material forming part of a floor or other horizontal surface.
| 1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 308 Floating Skreeds differ from cornice skreeds in this, that the former is a strip of plaster, and the latter wooden rules for running the cornice. 1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 431/2 Ledges or margins of plaster, called screeds, are formed at the angles. 1855 Reinnel Masons' etc. Assist. 61 The work must be correctly plumbed up by means of flat-headed nails, and screeds for the guidance of the floating rule formed with Roman cement. 1937 S. C. B. Stubbs Building Encycl. IV. 1241/2 Screeding. A cement and sand floating on a floor, laid in preparation for a subsequent paving or on a wall for wall tiling, is known as a screeding. Often it is called simply a screed, because it is brought up level by the use of screeds. Ibid., In the case of floors..it is usual to use the batten itself as a screed without forming the floated strip alongside, and hence we find the battens often referred to as the screeds. 1952 D. Nield Building Constr. Illustr. iii. 35 Cross reinforcement is laid over the beams and the whole covered with a layer of fine concrete (screed). 1956 Davies & Petty Building Elements ix. 270 A screed of cement and sand is laid later to provide a smooth and level surface for whatever floor finish is to be used. 1961 Times 3 July (Archit. Suppl.) p. vii/3 Heating by electric wires embedded in the concrete screed is becoming quite common. 1974 W. E. Kelsey Building Construction v. 87 Although the term screed is applied to the whole final surface, it is also used to describe the narrow strips of wet cement used as a guide to the thickness of the top layer. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 33/6 (Advt.), Uneven floors made smooth with latex screed. |
b. Comb.: screed board, screed rail, screed strip; screed-coat, a coat of plaster made level with the screeds (Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1949 A. G. Geeson Gen. Building Repairs (ed. 11) I. vi. 335 By moving the screed board with a slight tamping motion, the surface will be slightly roughened. 1968 Gloss. Formwork Terms (B.S.I.) 25 A tamper may be constructed so that it also acts as a screed board. Ibid. 22 Screed rail, a guide fixed at the perimeter of a concrete pour to act as a datum and support for a screed board. 1977 Club Tennis Mar. 13/3 The actual laying of the surface is done by screed strips and straight edge and the court is rolled and trowelled to a perfect level. |
c. (See quot.)
| 1901 J. Black's Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 92 The concrete [for the floor should be]..thrown on..and its upper surface brought perfectly level by passing a ‘screed’, or large wooden straight-edge, over it. |
II. 4. Sc. [From the verb.] A rent, tear. Also fig. ? Obs.
| a 1728 Ramsay Tit for Tat iii, He had lent ane's Guts a Skreed, Wha had gi'en him a broken Head. 1786 Burns Holy Fair iv, Ye, for my sake, hae gien the feck Of a' the ten comman's A screed some day. |
5. Sc. A sound as of the tearing of cloth; hence, ‘any loud, shrill sound’ (Jam.).
| a 1805 Macneill Poems (1844) 125 Fearfu' ye sang till some agreed The notes war true; Whan grown mair bauld, ye gae a screed That pleased nae few. 1805 J. Nicol Poems II. 12 (Jam.) Their cudgels brandish'd 'boon their heads,—Their horns emittin martial screeds. |
▪ II. screed, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(skriːd)
Forms: 5 screde, 8 skreed, 8– screed.
[Orig. a var. of shred v., repr. OE. scréadian; in later use f. screed n.]
1. a. trans. To shred, tear, rip.
| c 1430 Two Cookery Bks. 30 Take Apples, & pare hem, an smal screde hem in mossellys. 17.. Fair Helen xiii. in Child Ballads II. 212/2 And out he took a little pen-knife, And he screeded the winding-sheet. |
b. intr. for refl.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxi, Had I been in ony o' your rotten French camlets now, or your drab-de-berries, it would hae screeded like an auld rag wi' sic a weight as mine. |
2. intr. To produce a sound as of tearing cloth. Hence, of a musical instrument, to make a loud shrill sound.
| a 1706 Watson's Collect. Sc. Poems i. 38 It made me Yelp, and Yeul, and Yell And Skirl and Skreed. 1756 Pennecuik's Collect. Sc. Poems 77 He gar'd his pipe, when he did play, Baith skirl and skreed. 1835 Carrick, etc. Laird of Logan (1841) 77, I mind the verra tune that the fiddler played to us, as weel as if I heard the bow screeding o'er the strings the noo. |
3. to screed off, screed away: to give audible expression to, to relate or repeat (a matter) readily from memory.
| a 1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1807) 239 Sing then, how, on the fourth of June, Our bells screed aff a loyal tune. 1839 Ballantine in Whistle-Binkie Ser. ii. 5 There's nae Carritch question, nor auld Scottish sang, But the loun screeds ye aff in the true lowland twang. |
4. Building. a. To level (a surface) by means of a screed; to apply (material) as a screed to a floor surface. (Cf. screed n. 3 a.)
| [1825: see screeding vbl. n.] 1898 F. W. Macey Specifications in Detail 68 State if screeded in lime and hair mortar instead. 1944 E. Lucas in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder ii. 104/2 The second coat must be screeded to bring the surface level. 1949 A. G. Geeson Gen. Building Repairs (ed. 11) I. vi. 333 The surface is finished by screeding it with a straightedge. 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 5 June 35 Concrete can also be screeded to floors in old houses. Ibid. 39/2 How to screed a concrete floor. |
b. With advbs.: screed in, to finish off a surface around (an object, as a frame) by means of a screed; screed off, to take off (excess material) from a surface by means of a screed.
| 1898 F. W. Macey Specifications in Detail 63 Hair mortar in brickwork is only used for screeding in door and window frames. 1949 K. S. Woods Rural Crafts of England iv. xi. 180 The plaster was laid on very evenly, and then ‘screeded off’ with a long straight-edge known as a ‘screeding-rule’. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 58/3 The surplus mix [of concrete] being screeded off with a straight-edge. |