screed

noun

1. a long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. an informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades.
   1. a strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface.
   2. a wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like.
   3. a board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. a fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot.
   1. a tear or rip, especially in cloth.
   2. a drinking bout.

verb (used with or without object)

6. Scot. to tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.

noun

1. a long or prolonged speech or piece of writing
2. a strip of wood, plaster, or metal placed on a surface to act as a guide to the thickness of the cement or plaster coat to be applied
3. a mixture of cement, sand, and water applied to a concrete slab, etc, to give a smooth surface finish
4. Scot a rent or tear or the sound produced by this

n.early 14c., “fragment,” also “strip of cloth,” from northern England dialectal variant of Old English screade (see shred (n.)). Meaning “lengthy speech” is first recorded 1789, from notion of reading from a long list.