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screwball

noun
/ˈskɹuːbɔːl/

Etymology

From screw + ball. Compare typologically German Spinner (akin to spin). Also compare weirdo and weird, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, to spin”).

  1. derived from *bʰel-✻
  2. derived from *bʰélō✻
  3. inherited from *balluz✻
  4. derived from bǫllr
  5. inherited from *beall✻
  6. inherited from bal
  7. compounded as screwball — “screw + ball”

Definitions

  1. A pitch thrown with added pressure by the index finger and a twisting wrist motion…

    A pitch thrown with added pressure by the index finger and a twisting wrist motion resulting in a motion to the right when thrown by a right-handed pitcher.

    • The screwball is not thrown much because it tends to damage pitcher's arms.

  2. One who behaves in a crazy manner.

    • I will not listen to this screwball any longer.

  3. A screwball comedy.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Crazy, offbeat, bizarre, zany, or weird.

      • Also a big hand for Silver Linings Playbook, an exuberant modern screwball comedy we had, in an unseemly fit of cynicism, deemed "too entertaining" for Academy voters.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for screwball. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA