screed

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A long monotonous speech or piece of writing.
2. n. A strip of wood, plaster, or metal placed on a wall or pavement as a guide for the even application of plaster or concrete.
3. n. A layer or strip of material used to level off a horizontal surface such as a floor.
4. n. A smooth final surface of a substance, such as concrete, applied to a floor.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A piece torn off; a shred: as, a screed of cloth.
2. n. A long strip of anything; hence, a prolonged tirade; a harangue.
3. n. In plastering:
4. n. A strip of mortar about 6 or 8 inches wide, by which any surface about to be plastered is divided into bays or compartments. The screeds are 4, 5, 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.
5. n. A strip of wood similarly used.
6. n. The act of rending or tearing; a rent; a tear.
7. To rend; tear.
8. To repeat glibly; dash off with spirit.
9. n. A band of paper or other material placed around a piece of cloth to keep the loose end in place, to prevent injury when cords are tied around it in packing, and for trade-mark and ornamental purposes. Generally used in sets of two.

Wiktionary

1. n. A long discourse or harangue.
2. n. A piece of writing.
3. n. A tool, usually a long strip of wood or other material, for producing a smooth, flat surface on, for example, a concrete floor or a plaster wall.
4. n. A smooth flat layer of concrete or similar material.
5. v. construction, masonry To produce a smooth flat layer of concrete or similar material.
6. v. construction, masonry To use a screed (tool).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. 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.
2. n. A wooden straightedge used to lay across the plaster screed, as a limit for the thickness of the coat.
3. n. Scot. A fragment; a portion; a shred.
4. n. A breach or rent; a breaking forth into a loud, shrill sound.
5. n. An harangue; a long tirade on any subject.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a long monotonous harangue
2. n. an accurately levelled strip of material placed on a wall or floor as guide for the even application of plaster or concrete
3. n. a long piece of writing