screw

[ skroo ]

/ skru /

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See synonyms for: screw / screwed / screwing on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

British Informal. 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.

OTHER WORDS FOR screw

20 wring, wrest, force, exact, squeeze.

See synonyms for screw on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about 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”

OTHER WORDS FROM screw

screw·a·ble, adjectivescrewer, nounscrewless, adjectivescrewlike, adjective

Words nearby screw

screen-wiper, screenwriter, screet, screever, screigh, screw, screw around, screw auger, screw axis, screwball, screw bean

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use screw in a sentence

The scariest part about this process isn’t the sharp tools or the tiny screws or the moths flying around your late-night construction scene—it’s making sure it all actually works.
How to Build Out Your Subaru Forester for $350 or Less|Madeleine LaPlante-Dube|October 15, 2020|Outside Online
A wall-mount screw kit is included for an easy and simple wall hanging construction.
Write on any wall with these dry erase boards.|PopSci Commerce Team|October 13, 2020|Popular-Science
Simply assemble the legs with a few screws and get working in minutes.
Narrow desks that can turn any corner into a comfortable workspace|PopSci Commerce Team|October 13, 2020|Popular-Science
Crucially, the implied “turn of the screw” in James’s novel pivots around the question of whether the ghosts are real or not.
Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor is a calm, loving study in how to exorcise your ghosts|Aja Romano|October 9, 2020|Vox

There’s a removable base that screws on and off with a single flat-blade screw.
Watch Sony crack open a PS5 console|Stan Horaczek|October 7, 2020|Popular-Science
You want less concentration in banking—at least the type that will screw the little guy and imperil the economy?
How Naive is Elizabeth Warren?|Nick Gillespie|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Internet cool kids are rallying against Taylor Swift after her bold screw-you to Spotify.
Death of the Author by Viral Infection: In Defense of Taylor Swift, Digital Doomsayer|Arthur Chu|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then they sent me to psychologists and it was like “screw his head on straight.”
Exclusive: Michael Phelps’s Intersex Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend, Taylor Lianne Chandler, Tells All|Aurora Snow|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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.
Jeopardy! Champion Julia Collins’s Brain Feels Like Mush|Sujay Kumar|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The company bargained him down to $65 a screw—less than half of what they usually cost.
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’|The Center for Investigative Reporting|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The powdered stone was removed from the hole by giving a screw form to the stem of the bit.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick
"I did n't fly off the handle," said the screw, twirling huskily at the end of the screw-shaft.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
At the usual hour that night the employés of Stickle and Screw left work and took their several ways home ward.
The Garret and the Garden|R.M. Ballantyne
The propeller to be worked by this novel engine was of course his long-idle screw.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick
An article in 'The Times' gives in strong contrast the relative value of screw and paddle-wheels as propellers.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick

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-bolt a 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-back billiards snooker

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)

slang a prison guard

British slang salary, wages, or earnings

British a small amount of salt, tobacco, etc, in a twist of paper

slang a person who is mean with money

slang an old, unsound, or worthless horse

(often plural) slang force or compulsion (esp in the phrase put the screws on)

slang sexual intercourse

have a screw loose informal to be insane

turn the screw or tighten the screw slang to 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) informal to take advantage of; cheat

(tr often foll by up) to distort or contorthe screwed his face into a scowl

Also: screw back to impart a screw to (a ball)

(tr, often foll by from or out of) to coerce or force out of; extort

slang to have sexual intercourse (with)

(tr) slang to burgle

have one's head screwed on or have one's head screwed on the right way informal to be wise or sensible

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with screw

screw

In addition to the idioms beginning with screw

screw around
screw loose
screw someone out of
screw up
screw up one's courage
screw you

also see:

have a screw loose
pluck (screw) up one's courage
tighten the screws
turn up the heat (put the screws on)

screw

OTHER WORDS FOR screw

Idioms about screw

Origin of screw

OTHER WORDS FROM screw

Words nearby screw

Words related to screw

How to use screw in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for screw

Derived forms of screw

Word Origin for screw

usage for screw

Other Idioms and Phrases with screw