Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Screech

Screech (skrēch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Screeched; p. pr. & vb. n. Screeching.] [Also formerly, scritch, OE. skriken, skrichen, schriken, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. skrækja to shriek, to screech, skrīkja to titter, Sw. skrika to shriek, Dan. skrige; also Gael. sgreach, sgreuch, W. ysgrechio, Skr. kharj to creak. Cf. Shriek, v., Scream, v.] To utter a harsh, shrill cry; to make a sharp outcry, as in terror or acute pain; to scream; to shriek. "The screech owl, screeching loud." Shak.

Screech, n. A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.

Screech bird, or Screech thrush (Zoöl.), the fieldfare; — so called from its harsh cry before rain. — Screech rain. — Screech hawk (Zoöl.), the European goatsucker; — so called from its note. [Prov. Eng.] — Screech owl. (Zoöl.) (a) A small American owl (Scops asio), either gray or reddish in color. (b) The European barn owl. The name is applied also to other species.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.