scree, n.
(skriː)
Also 9 erron. scrae.
[a. ON. skriða landslip (Sw., Da. skred), cogn. w. skr{iacu}ða to slide, glide (= OE. scr{iacu}ðan to go, glide).
The existing form of the sing. is prob. a back-formation from the pl. screes, in which the medial ð is dropped as in ‘clo'es’ for clothes.]
A mass of detritus, forming a precipitous, stony slope upon a mountain-side. Also the material composing such a slope.
| 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 96 Skirl, or screes, small stones or pebbles. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. viii, Far on the sloping valley's course,..Shingle and Scrae, and Fell and Force, A dusky light arose. 1851 Fraser's Mag. XLIV. 137 The cliffs, and screes, and snowpatches looked uglier and steeper. 1905 S. Weyman Starvecrow Farm 209 And now the screes of Bow Fell, flecked with snow, were not more cold and hard than her face. |
| attrib. 1888 Davison in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XLIV. 232 The instability of scree-material being so great, the causes of its motion are consequently numerous. |