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Scree
Definitions
- 1 Loose stony debris on a slope. uncountable
"To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abrupt descent towards Keswick."
- 2 A harsh, high-pitched sound or cry (as of a hawk).
"I think both of our hearts must have gone into overdrive when we heard the metallic scree of a door being rolled open and the men's voices that accompanied it."
- 3 A coarse sieve. Scotland
"A contract of lease was entered into between the pursuer, who is the proprietor of the estate of Bargaddie, on the one part, and William M'Creath and others, carrying on business under the firm of the Bargaddie Coal Company, on the other part, […] and the lessees becoming bound to pay to the pursuer the sum of £500 sterling of fixed yearly rent, or, in his option, a lordship of 5½d. per cart of the gross output of coals, such cart weighing 13 cwt., and the coals being riddled through a riddle or scree of the customary size."
- 4 a sloping mass of loose rocks at the base of a cliff wordnet
- 5 Similar debris made up of broken building material such as bricks, concrete, etc. broadly, uncountable
"Acres of the industrial port had been reduced to desolation, half-walls, half-chimneys, crazy sticks of steel that looped up out of concrete scree. The temptation not to clear and rebuild must have been strong."
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- 6 A slope made up of scree at the base of a cliff, mountain, etc. countable
"The next landmark was an apachita 'cairn', at the top of a steep scree. Each pilgrim carried a stone to the summit, spat on it, and threw it on to the cairn — the purpose being, I was told, to relieve the soul of its sins […]"
- 1 To traverse scree downhill.
"We decided it would be fun to go down the face of the mountain screeing ("skiing" on scree)."
- 2 To make a high-pitched cry like that of a hawk.
"They smelled the land before they saw it. A rich, dark odor of sweet earth, coming at them through a misty rain. Then seabirds appeared, crying and screeing."
- 3 To flatten or level concrete while still wet, and remove protruding gravel and stones from the surface.
"The crushing and screeing equipment owned by the TVA was transferred from job to job, and the availability of this equipment was one of the factors in determining who would produce the aggregate."
Etymology
Probably a back-formation from screes, from Old Norse skriða (“landslide, landslip”); compare skríða (“to glide”) (from Proto-Germanic *skrīþaną (“to crawl; to glide; to walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreyt-, *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)). The word is cognate with Icelandic skriða (“avalanche; landslide, landslip; steep mountain- or hillside made up of gravel and loose rocks”).
Probably a back-formation from screes, from Old Norse skriða (“landslide, landslip”); compare skríða (“to glide”) (from Proto-Germanic *skrīþaną (“to crawl; to glide; to walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreyt-, *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)). The word is cognate with Icelandic skriða (“avalanche; landslide, landslip; steep mountain- or hillside made up of gravel and loose rocks”).
Onomatopoeic.
Onomatopoeic.
A variant of screed.
Apparently from screen.
See also for "scree"
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Unscramble this word: scree