scray, scraye (skra)

[ F. screau, the small sea-gull, Larus rid i bundus. ] bundus.] The common tern or sea-swallow, Sterna hirundo. See cut under tern. [Eng.] Engl screablet (skrē'a-bl), a. [ 1731. screak (skrēk), v. i. [Early mod. E. also screek, seriek; now usually a ibilated terminally screech or initially shriek, being subject, like other supposed imitative words, to considerable variation: see screech, and scrike, shriek, shrike1.] To utter a sharp, shrill sound or outcry; scream or screech; also, to creak, as a door or wheel. I would become a cat, To combat with the creeping mouse And scratch the scree king rat. Turberville, The Louer. IMG:content-0367.jpg:[blocks in formation] Scott , Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvi. 2. In ornith., specifically, one of several different birds. (a) The cariama or seriema, Cariama cristata, more fully called crested screamer. See cut under seriema. (b) Any member of the family Palamedeidæ. The horned screamer is Palamedea cornuta; crested screamers are Chauna chavaria and C. derbiana. See cut under Palamedea. (c) The European swift, Cypselus apus. See cut under Cypselus. [Local, British.] 3. Something very great, excellent, or exciting; a thing that attracts the attention or draws forth screams of astonishment, delight, etc.; a whacker; a bouncer. [Slang, U. S.] If he's a specimen of the Choctaws that live in these parts, they are screamers. screaming (skrē'ming), p. a. 1. Crying or sounding shrilly.-2. Causing a scream: as, a screaming farce (one calculated to make the audience scream with laughter). Thorpe , Backwoods.