a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, especially by means of a screwdriver.
a threaded cylindrical pin or rod with a head at one end, engaging a threaded hole and used either as a fastener or as a simple machine for applying power, as in a clamp, jack, etc.Compare bolt1 (def. 3).
British. a tapped or threaded hole.
something having a spiral form.
screw propeller.
Usually screws.physical or mental coercion: The terrified debtor soon felt the gangster's screws.
a single turn of a screw.
a twist, turn, or twisting movement.
Chiefly British.
a little salt, sugar, tobacco, etc., carried in a twist of paper.
Slang.a mean, old, or worn-out horse; a horse from which one can obtain no further service.
Slang.a friend or employer from whom one can obtain no more money.
Slang.a miser.
BritishInformal. salary; wages: It's not my dream job, but the screw's decent enough.
Slang. a prison guard.
Slang: Vulgar.
an act of sexual intercourse.
a person viewed as a sexual partner.
verb (used with object)
to fasten, tighten, force, press, stretch tight, etc., by or as if by means of a screw or device operated by a screw or helical threads.
to operate or adjust by a screw, as a press.
to attach with a screw or screws: to screw a bracket to a wall.
to insert, fasten, undo, or work (a screw, bolt, nut, bottle top with a helical thread, etc.) by turning.
to contort as by twisting; distort (often followed by up): Dad screwed his face into a grimace of disgust.
to cause to become sufficiently strong or intense (usually followed by up): I screwed up my courage to ask for a raise.
to coerce or threaten.
to extract or extort.
to force (a seller) to lower a price (often followed by down).
Slang. to cheat or take advantage of (someone).
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
verb (used without object)
to turn as or like a screw.
to be adapted for being connected, taken apart, opened, or closed by means of a screw or screws or parts with helical threads (usually followed by on, together, or off): This top screws on easily.
to turn or move with a twisting or rotating motion.
to practice extortion.
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse.
Verb Phrases
screw around,Slang.
to waste time in foolish or frivolous activity: If you'd stop screwing around we could get this job done.
Vulgar.to engage in promiscuous sex.
screw off,Slang.
to do nothing; loaf.
to leave; go away.
screw up,Slang.
to ruin through bungling or stupidity: Somehow the engineers screwed up the entire construction project.
to make a botch of something; blunder: Sorry, I guess I screwed up.
to make confused, anxious, or neurotic: Losing your job can really screw you up.
Idioms for screw
have a screw loose, Slang. to be eccentric or neurotic; have crazy ideas: You must have a screw loose to keep so many cats.
have one’s head screwed on right/straight. head (def. 67).
put the screws on, to compel by exerting pressure on; use coercion on; force: They kept putting the screws on him for more money.
Origin of screw
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English noun scrwe, screw(e); compare Middle French escro(ue) “nut,” Middle Dutch schrûve, Middle High German schrûbe “screw”
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Crucially, the implied “turn of the screw” in James’s novel pivots around the question of whether the ghosts are real or not.
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There’s a removable base that screws on and off with a single flat-blade screw.
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You want less concentration in banking—at least the type that will screw the little guy and imperil the economy?
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Then they sent me to psychologists and it was like “screw his head on straight.”
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In all honesty she may be handling it better, in terms of not letting it affect her as a person or screw up her life.
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The company bargained him down to $65 a screw—less than half of what they usually cost.
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As soon as they were all assembled, Percy gave the order to screw up, and pile on the barricades.
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He would have given a month's screw could Cosimo have come in at that moment.
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Then she shook the ice from her screw, and ran grandly into the swelling sea.
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The degree of screw thrust was indicated in pounds by the pointer g.
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Before passing onto the screw, it may be well to explain just how a paddle-wheel causes a boat to move.
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British Dictionary definitions for screw
screw
/ (skruː) /
noun
a device used for fastening materials together, consisting of a threaded and usually tapered shank that has a slotted head by which it may be rotated so as to cut its own thread as it bores through the material
Also called: screw-bolta threaded cylindrical rod that engages with a similarly threaded cylindrical hole; bolt
a thread in a cylindrical hole corresponding with that on the bolt or screw with which it is designed to engage
anything resembling a screw in shape or spiral form
a twisting movement of or resembling that of a screw
Also called: screw-backbilliardssnooker
a stroke in which the cue ball recoils or moves backward after striking the object ball, made by striking the cue ball below its centre
the motion resulting from this stroke
another name for propeller (def. 1)
slanga prison guard
Britishslangsalary, wages, or earnings
Britisha small amount of salt, tobacco, etc, in a twist of paper
slanga person who is mean with money
slangan old, unsound, or worthless horse
(often plural)slangforce or compulsion (esp in the phrase put the screws on)
slangsexual intercourse
have a screw looseinformalto be insane
turn the screwortighten the screwslangto increase the pressure
verb
(tr)to rotate (a screw or bolt) so as to drive it into or draw it out of a material
(tr)to cut a screw thread in (a rod or hole) with a tap or die or on a lathe
to turn or cause to turn in the manner of a screw
(tr)to attach or fasten with a screw or screws
(tr)informalto take advantage of; cheat
(tr often foll by up) to distort or contorthe screwed his face into a scowl
Also: screw backto impart a screw to (a ball)
(tr, often foll by from or out of)to coerce or force out of; extort
slangto have sexual intercourse (with)
(tr)slangto burgle
have one's head screwed onorhave one's head screwed on the right wayinformalto be wise or sensible
See also screw up
Derived forms of screw
screwer, nounscrewlike, adjective
Word Origin for screw
C15: from French escroe, from Medieval Latin scrōfa screw, from Latin: sow, presumably because the thread of the screw is like the spiral of the sow's tail
usage for screw
The use of this otherwise utilitarian word in a sexual sense, though recorded in an 18th century slang dictionary, does not appear to have really taken off until well into the 20th. Although a classic example of the anatomical metaphor for the sex act seen from the male point of view, it can be used as a transitive verb by women, which suggests that the metaphor is all but dead