scree

noun

1. a steep mass of detritus on the side of a mountain.

noun

1. an accumulation of weathered rock fragments at the foot of a cliff or hillside, often forming a sloping heapAlso called: talus

n.“pile of debris at the base of a cliff,” 1781, back-formation from screes (plural) “pebbles, small stones,” from Old Norse skriða “landslide,” from skriða “to creep, crawl;” of a ship, “to sail, glide,” also “to slide” (on snow-shoes), from Proto-Germanic *skrithanan (cf. Old English scriþan “to go, glide,” Old Saxon skridan, Dutch schrijden, Old High German scritan, German schreiten “to stride”).