Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter S - Page 29

Screech (n.) A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.

Screechers (n. pl.) The picarian birds, as distinguished from the singing birds.

Screechy (a.) Like a screech; shrill and harsh.

Screed (n.) 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.

Screed (n.) A wooden straightedge used to lay across the plaster screed, as a limit for the thickness of the coat.

Screed (n.) A fragment; a portion; a shred.

Screed (n.) A breach or rent; a breaking forth into a loud, shrill sound; as, martial screeds.

Screed (n.) An harangue; a long tirade on any subject.

Screen (n.) 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.

Screen (n.) 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.

Screen (n.) 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.

Screen (n.) 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.

Screened (imp. & p. p.) of Screen

Screening (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Screen

Screen (v. t.) 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.

Screen (v. t.) 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.

Screenings (n. pl.) The refuse left after screening sand, coal, ashes, etc.

Screw (n.) A cylinder, or a cylindrical perforation, having a continuous rib, called the thread, winding round it spirally at a constant inclination, so as to leave a continuous spiral groove between one turn and the next, -- used chiefly for producing, when revolved, motion or pressure in the direction of its axis, by the sliding of the threads of the cylinder in the grooves between the threads of the perforation adapted to it, the former being distinguished as the external, or male screw, or, more usually the screw; the latter as the internal, or female screw, or, more usually, the nut.

Screw (n.) Specifically, a kind of nail with a spiral thread and a head with a nick to receive the end of the screw-driver. Screws are much used to hold together pieces of wood or to fasten something; -- called also wood screws, and screw nails. See also Screw bolt, below.

Screw (n.) Anything shaped or acting like a screw; esp., a form of wheel for propelling steam vessels. It is placed at the stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a screw. See Screw propeller, below.

Screw (n.) A steam vesel propelled by a screw instead of wheels; a screw steamer; a propeller.

Screw (n.) An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard.

Screw (n.) An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.

Screw (n.) A small packet of tobacco.

Screw (n.) An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and commonly of good appearance.

Screw (n.) A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th Pitch, 10 (b)). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.

Screw (n.) An amphipod crustacean; as, the skeleton screw (Caprella). See Sand screw, under Sand.

Screwed (imp. & p. p.) of Screw

Screwing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Screw

Screw (v. t.) To turn, as a screw; to apply a screw to; to press, fasten, or make firm, by means of a screw or screws; as, to screw a lock on a door; to screw a press.

Screw (v. t.) To force; to squeeze; to press, as by screws.

Screw (v. t.) Hence: To practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions.

Screw (v. t.) To twist; to distort; as, to screw his visage.

Screw (v. t.) To examine rigidly, as a student; to subject to a severe examination.

Screw (v. i.) To use violent mans in making exactions; to be oppressive or exacting.

Screw (v. i.) To turn one's self uneasily with a twisting motion; as, he screws about in his chair.

Screw-cutting (a.) Adapted for forming a screw by cutting; as, a screw-cutting lathe.

Screw-driver (n.) A tool for turning screws so as to drive them into their place. It has a thin end which enters the nick in the head of the screw.

Screwer (n.) One who, or that which, screws.

Screwing () a. & n. from Screw, v. t.

Scribable (a.) Capable of being written, or of being written upon.

Scribatious (a.) Skillful in, or fond of, writing.

Scribbet (n.) A painter's pencil.

Scribble (v. t.) To card coarsely; to run through the scribbling machine.

Scribbled (imp. & p. p.) of Scribble

Scribbling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scribble

Scribble (v. t.) To write hastily or carelessly, without regard to correctness or elegance; as, to scribble a letter.

Scribble (v. t.) To fill or cover with careless or worthless writing.

Scribble (v. i.) To write without care, elegance, or value; to scrawl.

Scribble (n.) Hasty or careless writing; a writing of little value; a scrawl; as, a hasty scribble.

Scribblement (n.) A scribble.

Scribbler (n.) One who scribbles; a petty author; a writer of no reputation; a literary hack.

Scribbler (n.) A scribbling machine.

Scribbling (n.) The act or process of carding coarsely.

Scribbling (a.) Writing hastily or poorly.

Scribbling (n.) The act of writing hastily or idly.

Scribblingly (adv.) In a scribbling manner.

Scribe (n.) One who writes; a draughtsman; a writer for another; especially, an offical or public writer; an amanuensis or secretary; a notary; a copyist.

Scribe (n.) A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.

Scribed (imp. & p. p.) of Scribe

Scribing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scribe

Scribe (v. t.) To write, engrave, or mark upon; to inscribe.

Scribe (v. t.) To cut (anything) in such a way as to fit closely to a somewhat irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a molding, or the like; -- so called because the workman marks, or scribe, with the compasses the line that he afterwards cuts.

Scribe (v. t.) To score or mark with compasses or a scribing iron.

Scribe (v. i.) To make a mark.

Scriber (n.) A sharp-pointed tool, used by joiners for drawing lines on stuff; a marking awl.

Scribism (n.) The character and opinions of a Jewish scribe in the time of Christ.

Scrid (n.) A screed; a shred; a fragment.

Scriggle (v. i.) To wriggle.

Scrim (n.) A kind of light cotton or linen fabric, often woven in openwork patterns, -- used for curtains, etc,; -- called also India scrim.

Scrim (n.) Thin canvas glued on the inside of panels to prevent shrinking, checking, etc.

Scrimer (n.) A fencing master.

Scrimmage (n.) Formerly, a skirmish; now, a general row or confused fight or struggle.

Scrimmage (n.) The struggle in the rush lines after the ball is put in play.

Scrimped (imp. & p. p.) of Scrimp

Scrimping (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scrimp

Scrimp (v. t.) To make too small or short; to limit or straiten; to put on short allowance; to scant; to contract; to shorten; as, to scrimp the pattern of a coat.

Scrimp (a.) Short; scanty; curtailed.

Scrimp (n.) A pinching miser; a niggard.

Scrimping () a. & n. from Scrimp, v. t.

Scrimpingly (adv.) In a scrimping manner.

Scrimpness (n.) The state of being scrimp.

Scrimption (n.) A small portion; a pittance; a little bit.

Scrimshaw (v. t.) To ornament, as shells, ivory, etc., by engraving, and (usually) rubbing pigments into the incised lines.

Scrimshaw (n.) A shell, a whale's tooth, or the like, that is scrimshawed.

Scrine (n.) A chest, bookcase, or other place, where writings or curiosities are deposited; a shrine.

Scringed (imp. & p. p.) of Scrine

Scringing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scrine

Scrine (v. i.) To cringe.

Scrip (n.) A small bag; a wallet; a satchel.

Scrip (n.) A small writing, certificate, or schedule; a piece of paper containing a writing.

Scrip (n.) A preliminary certificate of a subscription to the capital of a bank, railroad, or other company, or for a share of other joint property, or a loan, stating the amount of the subscription and the date of the payment of the installments; as, insurance scrip, consol scrip, etc. When all the installments are paid, the scrip is exchanged for a bond share certificate.

Scrip (n.) Paper fractional currency.

Scrippage (n.) The contents of a scrip, or wallet.

Script (n.) A writing; a written document.

Script (n.) Type made in imitation of handwriting.

Script (n.) An original instrument or document.

Script (n.) Written characters; style of writing.

Scriptoria (pl. ) of Scriptorium

Scriptorium (n.) In an abbey or monastery, the room set apart for writing or copying manuscripts; in general, a room devoted to writing.

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