scree means loose stony debris on a slope. It carries an Arena rating of 1573, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scree ranks #308 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #460 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #545 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #684 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
scree is pronounced /skɹiː/.
Why “scree” is a great word
A slope of loose, broken stones or rocky debris formed at the base of a cliff or mountain, from Old Norse skriða ("landslide, landslip"), from skríða ("to glide, crawl"), from Proto-Germanic *skrīþaną ("to crawl; to glide"), first recorded in English 1775–85. Unlike the general "debris," which suggests scattered refuse, or the often-interchanged "talus," which can denote larger, stable blocks, scree is the finer, perpetually mobile mantle of a mountain's decay. It is the sound of a thousand porcelain plates shifting underfoot, the sharp, mineral scent of shattered flint released in the sun's warmth, and the treacherous, ankle-turning negotiation of a slope that flows like a dry river. It is the mountain, patiently and perpetually, turning itself inside out.
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”).
noun
- Loose stony debris on a slope.e.g.“To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abrupt descent towards Keswick.” — 1961 October, ""Voyageur"", “The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 601:
- Similar debris made up of broken building material such as bricks, concrete, etc.
- A slope made up of scree at the base of a cliff, mountain, etc.
- A harsh, high-pitched sound or cry (as of a hawk).e.g.“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.” — 2008 September 3, Brad Fear, “The ‘Captives’ Entry”, in A Macabre Myth of a Moth-man, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 130:
- A coarse sieve.
verb
- To traverse scree downhill.e.g.“We decided it would be fun to go down the face of the mountain screeing ("skiing" on scree).” — 2006, Sean Swarner, Keep Climbing, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN:
- To make a high-pitched cry like that of a hawk.e.g.“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.” — 2003, Pete Hamill, chapter 38, in Forever: A Novel, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, →ISBN:
- To flatten or level concrete while still wet, and remove protruding gravel and stones from the surface.e.g.“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.” — 1948, United States Tennessee Valley Authority, Concrete Production and Control: Tennessee Valley Authority Projects (Technical Report (Tennessee Valley Authority); no. 21), Washington, D.C.: Governme
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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