Variant of shred n., repr. Old English scréade; compare S n.1
I.
1. a. A fragment cut, torn, or broken from a main piece; in later use, a torn strip of some textile material. Also collect. sing. Obs. exc. dial.
b. A strip of land; a parcel of ground.
c. An edging, a bordering strip; the border or frill of a woman's cap. dial.
2. fig.
a. A long roll or list; a lengthy discourse or harangue; a gossiping letter or piece of writing.
b. A piece, portion (of a literary work).
3. Plastering.
a. An accurately levelled strip of plaster formed upon a wall or ceiling, as a guide in running a cornice or in obtaining a perfectly even surface in plastering; a strip of wood used for the same purpose. More generally in Building, a level strip of material formed or placed on any surface (e.g. a floor or a road) as a guide for the accurate finishing of it. Also, a levelled layer of material forming part of a floor or other horizontal surface. II.
4. Sc. [ < the verb.] A rent, tear. Also fig. ? Obs.
5. Sc. A sound as of the tearing of cloth; hence, ‘any loud, shrill sound’ (Jamieson).
"Megamouth, so rare it wasn't recorded
as science until 1976, daytime deep dweller
off the continental shelf to rise at night to a lesser
depth, to graze screeds of plankton we barely
register?"
- John Kinsella, "Megamouth Shark", 7 March 2011 The New Yorker
I guess the image is that the plankton is like a scrap of cloth? Or is it more an emphasis on the length, trying to say that there are a lot of plankton?
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