This week’s theme
Words from English English

This week’s words
writhen
shrive
tidings
screed

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(skreed)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A long piece of writing or speech, especially one that’s tedious or denunciatory.
2. A long strip of material such as wood, plaster, metal, or paper.
3. A tool (a strip of wood or metal) used to level off freshly poured concrete.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English screade (strip). Earliest documented use: 1350.

NOTES:

A screed is what happens when passion outruns editing. It’s a fancy word for a rant. Imagine a medieval monk rolling out an endless scroll of grievances, the original angry blog post. It’s literally a long strip, from the same root that gave us the word shred.

USAGE:

“Calling this a ‘book’ is a reach, because it is really just a screed against everything [Denis] Leary finds annoying.”
Rochelle O’Gorman; Where Boston’s the Backdrop; Boston Globe; May 31, 2009.

See more usage examples of screed in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: