screes

Noun (1)

scree (countable and uncountable, plural screes)

1. (uncountable) Loose stony debris on a slope.
   • 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
2. (broadly, uncountable) Similar debris made up of broken building material such as bricks, concrete, etc.
   • Acres of the industrial port had been reduced to desolation, half-walls, half-chimneys, crazy sticks of steel that looped up out of concrete scree. The temptation not to clear and rebuild must have been strong.2002, Catherine Merridale, Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russia, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 243
3. (countable) A slope made up of scree at the base of a cliff, mountain, etc.
   • The next landmark was an apachita 'cairn', at the top of a steep scree. Each pilgrim carried a stone to the summit, spat on it, and threw it on to the cairn — the purpose being, I was told, to relieve the soul of its sins […]1987, Michael J. Sallnow, Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cusco (Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry), Washington, D.C.; London: Smithsonian Institution Press, →ISBN, page 189

Noun (2)

scree (plural screes)

1. A harsh, high-pitched sound or cry (as of a hawk).
   • 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

Noun (3)

scree (plural screes)

1. (Scotland) A coarse sieve.
   • A contract of lease was entered into between the pursuer, who is the proprietor of the estate of Bargaddie, on the one part, and William M'Creath and others, carrying on business under the firm of the Bargaddie Coal Company, on the other part, […] and the lessees becoming bound to pay to the...1859 March 15, John Lorimer, William E[llis] Gloag, James Paterson, “The Bargaddie of Bartonshill Coal Company (Robert Paterson, J. B. Neilson, &c.), Appellants, v. Robert Wark, Respondent”, in...

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