screed [skriːd] NOUN screeds (plural noun) a long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious. "her criticism appeared in the form of screeds in a local film magazine" a levelled layer of material (e.g. cement) applied to a floor or other surface. a strip of plaster or other material placed on a surface as a guide to thickness. VERB screeds (third person present) · screeding (present participle) · screeded (past tense) · screeded (past participle) level (a floor or layer of concrete) with a straight edge using a back and forth motion while moving across the surface. ORIGIN Middle English: probably a variant of the noun shred. The early sense was ‘fragment cut from a main piece’, then ‘torn strip’, whence (via the notion of a long roll or list) screed (sense 1of the noun).