scrawl 
other marking implement; write awkwardly, 
hastily, or carelessly ; scribble : as, to scriini u 
letter"; also, to make irregular lines or bad writ- 
ing on: as, to scrawl a piece of paper. 
Peruse my leaves through ev'ry part, 
And think thou seest its owner's heart, 
J419 
screen 
Battes, Owles, and Scritch-owlcs, birds of darknesse, were 
the objects of their darkened Deuotions. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 697. 
A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more 
than a band of robbers. Addison, Spectator, No. 7. 
Scrawl'd o'er with trifles thus, and quite 
As hard, as senseless, and as light. Swift. 
2. To mark with irregular wandering or zig- 
. . ....., ... - , It is more distinctly flgu 
native to speak of the shriek of a locomotive than to speak 
_ _ of its scream or screech. 
zagli'nes": as, eggs scrawled with black (natu- screamer (skre'mer), n. [< scream, v., + -er 1 .] 
1. One who or that which screams. 
The screamer aforesaid added good features and bright 
eyes to the powers of her lungs. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvi. 
2. A sharp, harsh sound. 
The scream of a madden'd beach dragg'd down by the 
wave. Tennyson, Maud, in. 
= Syn. Scream, Shriek, Screech. A shriek is sharper, 
morltToror Tutres^tliMa wr^^XMcAemph'utel screech-thrush (skrech'thrush), n. The mistle- 
the disagreeableness of the sharpness or shrillness, and thrush, Tiirdus riscirorus. Macgillivray. 
its lack of dignity in a person^ It is more distinctly flgu- screechy (skre'chi), a. [< screech, n., + -y 1 .] 
1. Shrill and harsh, like a screech. Cock- 
ral marking). 
II. intrans. To write unskilfully and inele- 
gantly. 
I gat paper in a blink, 
And down gaed stumpie in the ink. . . . 
Sae I've begun to scrawl. 
Burns, Second Epistle to J. Lapraik. 
scrawl 2 (skral), n. [Early mod. E. also scroll; 
< scrawl 2 , v.] A piece of unskilful or inelegant 
writing; also, a piece of hasty, bad writing. 
I ... should think myself exceeding fortunate could 
I make a real discovery of the Cardinal's ashes, of which, 
&c., more another time, for I believe I have tired you now 
with my scroll. 
B. Willis, in Letters of Eminent Men, II. 20. 
Mr. Wycherley, hearing from me how welcome his let- 
ters would be, writ to you, in which I inserted my scrawl. 
Pope. 
scrawl 3 (skral), n. [Prob. a contraction of 
"scraggle, dim. of straff 1 .] A ragged, broken 
branch of a tree ; brushwood. [New Eng.] 
scrawler (skra'ler), n. [< scrawP, v., + **.] 
i. 2. Given to screeching; screamy; loud- 
mouthed : as, a screechy woman. 
, form, with shortened vowel.] 1. A piece torn 
2. In ornith., specifically, one of several dif- off; a shred: as, a screed of cloth. [Now chief- 
ferent birds, (a) The cariama or seriema, Cariama 
cristate, more fully called crested screamer. See cut under 
seriema. (b) Any member of the family Palamedeidse. 
The horned screamer is Palamedea cornuta; crested 
screamers are Chauna ctiaoaria and C. derbiana. See cut 
under Palamedea. (c) The European swift, Cypselus apus. 
See cut under Cypsehis. [Local, British.] 
3. Something very great, excellent, or exciting ; 
a thing that attracts the attention or draws 
forth screams of astonishment, delight, etc. ; a 
whacker; a bouncer. [Slang, U. S.] 
If he's a specimen of the Choctaws that live in these 
parts, they are screamers. Thorpe, Backwoods. 
screaming (skre'ming), p. a. 1. Crying or 
sounding shrilly. 2. Causing a scream: as, 
a screaming farce (one calculated to make the 
audience scream with laughter). 
One who scrawls ; a hasty or awkward writer, scree 1 (skre), . [< Icel. skritha (= Sw. Dan. 
scrawly(skra'li),. [< scrawP + -yi.] Scrawl- 
ing; loose; ill-formed and irregular: noting 
writing or manuscript. [Colloq.] 
scrawm (skram), v. t. [Prob. < D. schrammen 
= MLG. schrammen, scratch ; from the noun, D. 
schram, a wound, rent, = G. schramm, schram, 
scliramme, a wound, = Icel. skrama = Sw. skrd- 
ma = Dan. skramme, a scar; prob. ult. < / star, 
cut: see shear 1 .'] To tear; scratch. [North. 
Eng.] 
He scrawm'd an' scratted my faace like a cat. 
Tennyson, Northern Cobbler. 
sJcred), a landslip on a hillside (frequent in 
Icel. local names, as Skritha, Skrithu-klaustr, 
Skrith-dalr, etc.; skrithu-fall, an avalanche), < 
skritha, creep, crawl, move, glide, = AS. scri- 
than, go: see scritlie.] A pile of debris at the 
base of a cliff ; a talus. [Used in both the sin- 
gular and the plural with the same meaning.] 
A landslip, a steep slope on the side of a mountain cov- 
ered with sliding stones, in Westmoreland called screes. 
Cath. Ang., p. 326, note. 
ly 'Scotch.] 2. A long strip of anything; 
hence, a prolonged tirade; a harangue. 
Some reference to infant-schools drew Derwent Cole- 
ridge forth from his retirement in an easy-chair in a cor- 
ner and he launched out into a Coleridgean screed on edu- 
cation. Caroline Fox, Journal, p. 46. 
Shall I name these, and turn my screed into a catalogue? 
D. G. Mitchell, Bound Together, iii. 
3. In plastering : (a) A strip of mortar about 
6 or 8 inches wide, by which any surface about 
to be plastered is divided into bays or compart- 
ments. The screeds are 4, 6, or 6 feet apart, according to 
circumstances, and are accurately formed in the same 
plane by the plumb-rule and straight-edge. They thus 
form gages for the rest of the work, the interspaces being 
filled out flush with them. (J) A strip of wood simi- 
larly used. 4. The act of rending or tearing; 
a rent ; a tear. 
When . . . lasses gi'e my heart a screed, . . . 
I kittle up my rustic reed ; 
It gi'es me ease. Burns, To W. Simpson. 
A screed 0' drink, a supply of drink in a general sense ; 
hence, a drinking-bout. [Scotch.] -Floating screed. 
^ ff v. t. [A var. of shred, v., as 
I, n., is of shred, n.: see screed, n., and 
shred, t>.] 1. To rend; tear. 2. To repeat 
glibly; dash off with spirit. 
Wee Davock 's turn'd sae gleg, . . . 
He'll screed you aff Effectual Calling 
As fast as ony in the dwalling. 
Burns, The Inventory. 
raw-boned; lean: as, & scrawny person; scrawny 
hens. 
White-livered, hatchet-faced, thin-blooded, scrawny re- 
formers. J. G. Holland, Timothy Titcomb. 
scray, scraye (skra), . [< W. ysgraell, ysgrden, 
the sea-swallow, = Bret, skrav, > F. screau, the 
small sea-gull, Larus ridibundus.] The com- 
mon tern or sea-swallow, Sterna hirundo. See 
cut under tern. [Eng.] 
screablet (skre'a-bl), a. [< L. sereare, hawk, 
hem, + -We.] That may be spit out. Bailey, 
1731. 
[Early mod. E. also screek, 
An obsolete form of screak. 
Before I had got half way up the screes, which gave way 
and rattled beneath me at every step. Southey. 
scrawniness (skra'ni-nes), n. Scrawny, raw- scree 2 (skre), n. [A dial. abbr. of screen.] Arid- 
boned, or lanky character or appearance, die or coarse sieve. [Scotch and North, ling. J scree( j. C oat (skred'kot), . In plastering, a coat 
scrawny (skra'ni), a. [A dial, form of scranny, screech (skrech), v. [Early mod. E. also skreech, made eyen or flus h with the screeds. See 
now prevalent: see scranny.] Meager; wasted; s*riec/,dial. st\soscntch; < ME. schnchen, sank- geree(l ,. 3 
en, shryken. schriken, shriken, < Icel. skreekja, -JJJL, i 
shriek, skrikja, titter, = Sw. "^^" - " s 
skrige, shriek: see shriek 
forms of the same ult. ir '" 
trans. To cry out with 
scream harshly or stridently ; snriek. 
And the synfulle thare-with ay cry and skryke. 
Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, L 7347. 
The screech-owl screeching loud. 
SAo*.,M. N. D.,v. 1. 383. 
= Syn. See scream, n. 
tt. trans. To utter (a screech). 
And when she saw the red, red blude, 
A loud skriech skrieched she. 
Lammikin (Child's Ballads, III. 310). 
screak (skrek), v. i. t 
scriek ; now usually assibilated terminally 
screech or initially shriek, being subject, like screec h (skrech), . [Early mod. E. also skreech, 
other supposed imitative words, to consider- s jcriech, scritch; < screech, v. Cf. Sw.skri, skrik 
.-:,. .^.^^ ,! u -.;^ O j,.z- _ Dm. slcrig, a shriek: see shriek.] l.Asharp, 
shrill cry; a harsh scream. 
Forthwith there was heard a great lamentation, accom- 
panyed with groans and skreeches. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 9. 
The birds obscene . . . 
With hollow screeches fled the dire repast. 
Pope, tr. of Statius s Thebaid, i. 
2. Any sharp, shrill noise: as, the screech of a 
ecran, a screen ; origin uncertain ; perhaps re- 
lated to OF. escrene, escriene, escremie, escreigne, 
ecreigne, ecraigne, ecraine, screigne, etc., P. 
ecraigne, a wattled hut, < OHG. scranna, skran- 
na, MHG. schranne, a bench, court, G. schramie, 
bench, shambles, a railing, rack, grate, court. 
The word is glossed in ME. by scriniiim, serine- 
um, as if identified with L. scriniiim, a shrine : 
see shrine.'] 1. A covered framework, parti- 
tion, or curtain, either movable or fixed, which 
able variation: see screech, and strike, shriek, 
shrike 1 .] To utter a sharp, shrill sound or out- 
cry; scream or screech; also, to creak, as a 
door or wheel. 
I would become a cat, 
To combat with the creeping mouse 
And scratch the screeking rat. 
Turberoittf, The Louer. 
screak (skrek), n. [Early mod. E. also scrike; 
< screak, v. Cf. screech, shriek, shrike 1 , n.~] A 
creaking; a screech; a creaking sound. 
scream (skrem), v. i. [< ME. screinen, seretniieii, 
< Icel. skreema = Sw. skramma = Dan. skrxmme, 
scare, terrify; cf. Sw. skran, a scream, skrdna, 
railway-whistle. 
She heard with silent petulance the harsh screech of 
Philip's chair as he heavily dragged it on the stone floor. 
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, iv. 
3. In ornith., the mistlethrush, Turdus viscivo- 
, . . , 
whimper; prob. ult. akin to Sw. skrika, Dan. rus. [Prov. Eng.]=syn. Shriek, etc. BMMTMOT. 
skrige, shriek (see screak, shriek, shrike 1 ), Dan. screech-COCk (skreWkok), w. Same as screech, 
skriekke, scare, E. shriU, Sc. skirl, cry aloud, 3. [Prov. Eng.] 
G. schreien, D. schreijen. Sw. skria, cry aloud, screecher (skre cher), n. 
shriek, etc. (see skire).] 1. To cry out with 
shrill voice; give vent or utterance to a sharp 
or piercing outcry; utter shrill cries, as in fright 
or extreme pain, delight, etc. 
I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. 
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 16. 
Never peacock against rain 
Screarn'd as you did for water. 
1. One who or that 
which screeches ; a screamer. 2. Specifically, 
in ornith. : (a) The swift, Cypselus apus. Also 
screamer, squealer, (b) pi. The Strepitores. 
screech-hawk (skrech'hak), n. The night- 
jar or churr-owl, a goatsucker, Caprimulgiis eu- 
ropseus. See cut under night-jar. [Local, Eng.] 
screech-martin (skrech'mar*'tin), n. The swift, 
Cypschin apus. [Local, Eng.] 
2. To give out a shrill sound: as, the railway 
whistle screamed. = Syn. See scream, n. 
scream (skrem), . [< scream, r.] l.Asharp, 
piercing sound or cry, as one uttered in fright, 
pain, etc. 
Dismal screams, . . . 
Shrieks of woe. 
Pope, Ode, St. Cecilia's Day, 1. 57. 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, , iii. 5. 8cree ch-owl (skrech'oul), n. [Also formerly 
or Aia\.scritch-oii'l (= Sw. skrik-uggla) ; < screech, 
scritch 2 , + oil'? 1 .] An owl that screeches, as dis- 
tinguished from one that hoots: applied to va- 
rious species. In Great Britain it is a common name 
of the barn-owl. In the United States it is specifically 
applied to the small horned owls of the genus Scop* (or 
Met/ascops). See red owl (under rail), and compare saw- 
whet. 
Fire-screen, covered with tapestry. Louis-Seize style. 
serves to protect from the heat of the sun or 
of a fire, from rain, wind, or cold, or from 
other inconvenience or danger, or to shelter 
from observation, conceal, shut off the view, 
or secure privacy: as, a fire-scra> n ; a folding 
screen; a window-s<ree, etc.; hence, such a 
covered framework, curtain, etc., used for some 
