24 September 2015

screed

[skreed]

noun

1. a long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. an informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. 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.
4. British Dialect. a fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot.
a tear or rip, especially in cloth.
a drinking bout.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
6. Scot. to tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.

Origin of screed

Middle English, Old English
1275-13251275-1325; Middle English screde torn fragment, irregular (with sc- for sh-) representing Old English scrēade shred

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for screed

Contemporary Examples

The media took notice: My screed appeared in New York magazine and on various gossip blogs.
Mea Culpa, Kiddo
Marty Beckerman
August 13, 2009

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 13, 2012

Today’s quote

You would better educate ten women into the practice of liberal principles than to organize a thousand on a platform of intolerance and bigotry.

– Susan B. Anthony

On this day

24 September 1724 – birth of Sir Arthur Guiness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Died 23 January 1803.

24 September 1869 – Black Friday. Wall Street panic caused by two speculators, Fisk and Gould, trying to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. During reconstruction following the American Civil War, the US government had issued large amounts of money backed by nothing but credit. Rumour had it that the government would buy back the money with gold. Fisk and Gould attempted to profit from this by buying large amounts of gold, driving the price higher. The government unloaded $4 million of its own gold on the market which caused the price to plummet. As the price plummeted, investors panicked and sold their holdings, many were ruined.

24 September 1936 – birth of Jim Henson, American muppeteer (Sesame Street, the Muppet Show). Died 16 May 1990.

24 September 1952 – birth of Mark Sandman, US musician, singer, songwriter. Founder of the alternative rock band, Morphine, which blended heavy bass sounds with blues and jazz. Sandman was described as the most under-rated and skilled bass player of his generation. Sandman collapsed and died on stage during a Morphine concert in Latium, Italy. His death was the result of a heart attack and blamed on heavy smoking, stress and extreme heat, in which the temperature on the night was in excess of 38o Celsius. Died 3 July 1999.

24 September 1990 – The Supreme Soviet agrees to change to free market.

24 September 1991 – death of Theodore Seuss Geisel, (Dr Seuss), children’s author. Born 2 March 1904.