scree

n. A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream. [ 1913 Webster ]

Screech bird, or
Screech thrush (Zool.), the fieldfare; -- so called from its harsh cry before rain. --
Screech rain. --
Screech hawk (Zool.), the European goatsucker; -- so called from its note. [ Prov. Eng. ] --
Screech owl. (Zool.) (a) A small American owl (Scops asio), either gray or reddish in color. (b) The European barn owl. The name is applied also to other species. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Screeched p. pr. & vb. n. Screeching. ] [ Also formerly, scritch, OE. skriken, skrichen, schriken, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. skrækja to shriek, to screech, skrīkja to titter, Sw. skrika to shriek, Dan. skrige; also Gael. sgreach, sgreuch, W. ysgrechio, Skr. kharj to creak. Cf. Shriek, v., Scream, v. ] To utter a harsh, shrill cry; to make a sharp outcry, as in terror or acute pain; to scream; to shriek. “The screech owl, screeching loud.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. (Zool.) The picarian birds, as distinguished from the singing birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a screech; shrill and harsh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prov. E., a shred, the border of a cap. See Shred. ] 1. (Arch.) (a) A strip of plaster of the thickness proposed for the coat, applied to the wall at intervals of four or five feet, as a guide. (b) A wooden straightedge used to lay across the plaster screed, as a limit for the thickness of the coat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fragment; a portion; a shred. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 1st Screed. For sense 2 cf. also Gael. sgread an outcry. ] 1. A breach or rent; a breaking forth into a loud, shrill sound; as, martial screeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An harangue; a long tirade on any subject. [ 1913 Webster ]

The old carl gae them a screed of doctrine; ye might have heard him a mile down the wind. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. scren, OF. escrein, escran, F. écran, of uncertain origin; cf. G. schirm a screen, OHG. scirm, scerm a protection, shield, or G. schragen a trestle, a stack of wood, or G. schranne a railing. ] 1. Anything that separates or cuts off inconvenience, injury, or danger; that which shelters or conceals from view; a shield or protection; as, a fire screen. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your leavy screens throw down. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some ambitious men seem as screens to princes in matters of danger and envy. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Arch.) A dwarf wall or partition carried up to a certain height for separation and protection, as in a church, to separate the aisle from the choir, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A surface, as that afforded by a curtain, sheet, wall, etc., upon which an image, as a picture, is thrown by a magic lantern, solar microscope, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A long, coarse riddle or sieve, sometimes a revolving perforated cylinder, used to separate the coarser from the finer parts, as of coal, sand, gravel, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to enable him to see ball better. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

6. a netting, usu. of metal, contained in a frame, used mostly in windows or doors to allow in fresh air while excluding insects. --
Screen door, a door of which half or more is composed of a screen. --
Screen window, a screen inside a frame, fitted for insertion into a window frame. [ PJC ]

7. The surface of an electronic device, as a television set or computer monitor, on which a visible image is formed. The screen is frequently the surface of a cathode-ray tube containing phosphors excited by the electron beam, but other methods for causing an image to appear on the screen are also used, as in flat-panel displays. [ PJC ]

8. The motion-picture industry; motion pictures. “A star of stage and screen.” [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Screened p. pr. & vb. n. Screening. ] 1. To provide with a shelter or means of concealment; to separate or cut off from inconvenience, injury, or danger; to shelter; to protect; to protect by hiding; to conceal; as, fruits screened from cold winds by a forest or hill. [ 1913 Webster ]

They were encouraged and screened by some who were in high commands. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To pass, as coal, gravel, ashes, etc., through a screen in order to separate the coarse from the fine, or the worthless from the valuable; to sift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. to examine a group of objects methodically, to separate them into groups or to select one or more for some purpose. As: (a) To inspect the qualifications of candidates for a job, to select one or more to be hired. (b) (Biochem., Med.) to test a large number of samples, in order to find those having specific desirable properties; as, to screen plant extracts for anticancer agents. [ PJC ]