SCREAK

I like the word SCREAK. Although the definition is: "to make a harsh, shrill, sound", I have always thought of it as a cross between a shriek, a screech, and a scream. It is an intransitive verb of Scandinavian origin and is pronounced "skreet".

When I used the word in a BLOG article, a friend called to tell me she thought it was a misspelling of "scream". I answered that it was a correct spelling of screak and she said that Spell-Check didn't recognize it.

I answered, "Spell-Check isn't God; the OED is GOD!"