Word of the Day!

scree [skree]

noun:
an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff; a steep mass of detritus on the side of a mountain

    
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The term scree refers to an accumulation of pieces of broken rock. These rocks have come loose from surrounding cliffs and mountainsides during rockfalls. After rolling, bouncing, and sliding down nearly vertical cliffs, these rocks come to rest in one concentrated heap. Generally speaking, scree is most commonly found at the foot of volcanoes, valleys, mountain cliffs, and crags. (Amber Pariona, What Is A Scree?, WorldAtlas, August 2017)

There's an art to running down scree slopes, which my friend demonstrated, where one 'surfs' along the surface of the debris. She pulled away like a motor boat from a jetty, generating a clattering wave of cascading rock, leaving me to tread cautiously in her wake. (Rose Lu, As I bum-shuffled my way down the scree at Avalanche Peak I wished I was back in the bush, Te Papa Blog, January 2022)

I've never spent much time thinking about what might be growing on the tumbles of rocks cascading down the mountain slopes so when we stepped onto our first scree I was surprised to see that there were actually plants present. (Lara Shepherd, Living life on the edge - plants of screes, Te Papa Blog, January 2015)

The scree field was a steep slope covered in shards of loose gray rock. You can try running, stepping carefully, and angling your feet as though you were in second position in ballet - feet are in a parallel line, separated and turned outward. No matter what you do, at some point, the scree robs you of upward movement. (Maryann Karinch, Do You Feel Like You're Climbing a Scree Field? , Psychology Today, August 2020)

It has a copious scree at the foot, and more than half-way up it divides into three. (W P Haskett Smith, Climbing in The British Isles)

Origin:

'pile of debris at the base of a cliff or steep mountainside,' 1781, a back-formation from screes (plural) 'pebbles, small stones,' from Old Norse skriða 'landslide.' This is from the verb skriða 'to creep, crawl;' of a ship, 'to sail, glide,' also 'to slide' (on snow-shoes), from Proto-Germanic skreithanan (source also of Old English scriþan 'to go, glide,' Old Saxon skridan, Dutch schrijden, Old High German scritan, German schreiten 'to stride'). (Online Etymology Dictionary)