screw
nounEtymology
From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scrūva ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word. more on the etymology of screw Old French escroue (whence Medieval Latin scrofa (“nut, screwhole”)), is believed to be an adaptation of Latin scrōfa (“sow, female pig”); but this development is not found in other Romance languages. (For change in meaning, compare also Spanish puerca, Portuguese porca, both ‘sow; screw nut’, and is based on the fact that a boar's penis has a screw-like tip, making the sow's vulva equivalent to a screw nut by analogy). Old Dutch *scrūva possibly derives from Proto-Germanic *skrūbō (“screw”), from *skru- (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keru-, *(s)ker- (“to cut”), and is related to German Schraube (“screw”), Low German schruve, schruwe (“screw”), Dutch schroef (“screw”), West Frisian skroef (“screw”), Danish skrue (“screw”), Swedish skruv (“screw, peg”), Icelandic skrúfa (“screw”). Compare also Occitan escrofa (“screw nut”), Calabrese scrufina (“screw nut”), which may be borrowings of the Old French word, or parallel developments.
- derived from *(s)keru-✻
- derived from *skrūbō✻
- derived from *scrūva✻
- derived from scrōfa
- inherited from screw
Definitions
A device that has a helical function.
The motion of screwing something
The motion of screwing something; a turn or twist to one side.
A prison guard.
- The screws moved her out of my cell because they could not stand the idea of a black and white white being together.
- They both wedged up in his cell and refused to come out. They were hurling abuse at the screws on the other side of the door. As a result they were both shipped out to another jail the following day.
›+ 22 more definitionsshow fewer
An extortioner
An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint.
- This gentleman and the guard seemed to know Sir Pitt very well, and laughed at him a great deal. They both agreed in calling him an old screw; which means a very stingy, avaricious person.
An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity
An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse; the act of screwing.
- Why can't I get just one screw? / Believe me, I'd know what to do / But something won't let me make love to you
- “Not for God's sake, for Papá's sake. He's the one who gave Mami a good screw, and then you popped out. Or did you think you were a child of the Immaculate Conception, like the Baby Jesus?
- A few couples would let selected doggers join in, with the lucky ones managing to get a screw.
A casual sexual partner.
- If I don't go back to my boy friend he'll be as mad as hell. He's a sulky brute, but Christ, he's a good screw.
- "Swear it!" Kathleen screamed. "Let her know that she's just another screw. Because, darling, that's all you are. So go on, tell her!"
- She was just a girl, like any of the girls he had had so easily, just another screw.
Salary, wages.
- “I’ll speak to Mrs. Dorman when she comes back, and see if I can’t come to terms with her,” I said. “Perhaps she wants a rise in her screw. It will be all right. Let’s walk up to the church.”
- A certain amount of "screw" is as necessary for a man as for a billiard-ball.
Backspin.
A twist of paper, especially one containing a small quantity of a material such as salt…
A twist of paper, especially one containing a small quantity of a material such as salt or tobacco.
- Before potato crisps were sold pre-salted each packet would contain a screw of salt.
- 3 Screws and a Pipe
- When the opportunity came the blind man smoothed out the screw of paper that the encounter had left in his hand and read as follows: […]
An old, worn-out, unsound and worthless horse.
- […] a gentleman of leisure, who enjoyed himself on a couple of spavined screws […]; both of them, as Stephen said, looked lonely without a gig behind them.
A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is…
A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated. It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.
An amphipod crustacean.
- the skeleton screw (Caprella)
- the sand screw
Rheumatism.
- She didn't like my mother, so she made a wax doll and stuck thorns into its legs, and my mother had the screws (rheumatism) in her legs ever since.
To connect or assemble pieces using a screw.
To have sexual intercourse with.
- Somebody told me [...] that she [...] acknowledged to him [...] that Nero [...] had screwed her (meaning had carnal intercourse with plaintiff) up stairs the night before.
- "Maybe they weren't screwing, my dear. They were just hanging out, you know." "They were screwing, my dear."
To cheat someone or ruin their chances in a game or other situation.
To extort or practice extortion upon
To extort or practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions; to put the screws on.
- […] our country landlords, by unmeasurable screwing and racking their tenants, have already reduced the miserable people to a worse condition than the peasants in France, or the vassals in Germany and Poland […]
- It is not surprising that the landowner strove to screw his tenants.
To contort.
- He screwed his face into a hardened smile.
To miskick (a ball) by hitting it with the wrong part of the foot.
- The visitors could have added an instant second, but Rooney screwed an ugly attempt high into Hennessey's arms after Berbatov cleverly found the unmarked England striker.
To screw back.
To examine (a student) rigidly
To examine (a student) rigidly; to subject to a severe examination.
To leave
To leave; to go away; to scram.
- If you don't like it, fuckin' screw! It's Shit Ass Pet Fuckers. That's the way it's going to be.
Used to express great displeasure with, or contemptuous dismissal of, someone or…
Used to express great displeasure with, or contemptuous dismissal of, someone or something.
- Screw those jerks, and screw their stupid rules!
To give up on, to abandon, delay, to not think about someone or something.
- Screw the homework for now.
- Screw him, let's run.
The neighborhood
- antonymunscrew
- neighborbolt
- neighborlampholder
Derived
chopped and screwed, get screwed, go screw yourself, have one's head screwed on, have one's head screwed on right, have one's head screwed on straight, have one's head screwed on the right way, I screw you not, screw about, screw all, screw around, screw away, screwball, screwed, blued and tattooed, screw in, screw-in, screw it, screw off, screw over, screwtape, screwtaping, screw the pooch, screw this, screw this for a game of soldiers, screw this for a lark, screw up, screw up one's courage, screw with, screwy, screw you, would lose one's head if it wasn't screwed on
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at screw. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at screw. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
5 hops · closes at screw
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA