FromMiddle Englishscrew,scrue(“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, fromOld Frenchescroue(“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), fromLatinscrōfa(“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also theOld Frenchescruve(“screw”), fromOld Dutch*scrūva("screw"; whenceMiddle Dutchschruyve(“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word.

• IPA^(key):/skɹuː/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-uː

screw (pluralscrews)

1. A device that has ahelical function.
   1. Asimple machine, ahelical inclined plane.
   2. A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a partially or completelythreadedshank, sometimes with a threaded point, and ahead used to both hold the top material and to drive the screw either directly into a soft material or into a prepared hole.
   3. (nautical) A ship'spropeller.
      • 1915,G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, inGossamer, New York, N.Y.:George H. Doran Company,→OCLC,page01:

        It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until thescrew begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

   4. AnArchimedes screw.
   5. Asteamvessel propelled by a screw instead of wheels.
2. The motion of screwing something; a turn or twist to one side.
3. (slang,derogatory) Aprison guard.
   • 1984 April 21, Albert Jones, “White Lovers”, inGay Community News, page 4:

     Thescrews moved her out of my cell because they could not stand the idea of a black and white white being together.

   • 1994, Frank Darabont,The Shawshank Redemption (film):

     And that's how it came to pass that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of forty-nine wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning drinking icy cold, Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardestscrew that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison.

   • 2000, Reginald Kray,A Way of Life:

     They both wedged up in his cell and refused to come out. They were hurling abuse at thescrews on the other side of the door. As a result they were both shipped out to another jail the following day.

4. (slang,derogatory) Anextortioner; a sharp bargainer; askinflint.
   • 1847 January –1848 July,William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 8, inVanity Fair […], London:Bradbury and Evans […], published1848,→OCLC:

     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 oldscrew; which means a very stingy, avaricious person.

5. (US,slang,dated) Aninstructor who examines with great or unnecessaryseverity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
6. (vulgar,slang)Sexual intercourse; the act ofscrewing.
   • 1983,Gordon Gano, “Add It Up”, inViolent Femmes, performed byViolent Femmes:

     Why can't I get just onescrew? / Believe me, I'd know what to do / But something won't let me make love to you

   • 2001, Bárbara Mujica,Frida: A Novel of Frida Kahlo‎^[1], Overlook Press, published2012,→ISBN:

     “Not for God's sake, for Papá's sake. He's the one who gave Mami a goodscrew, and then you popped out. Or did you think you were a child of the Immaculate Conception, like the Baby Jesus?

   • 2007, Barry Calvert,Swingers 1, Matador, published2007,→ISBN,page85:

     A few couples would let selected doggers join in, with the lucky ones managing to get ascrew.

   • 2009, Kimberly Kaye Terry,The Sweet Spot, Aphrodisia Books, published2009,→ISBN,page28:

     As she sucked the nicotine deeply into her lungs, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the headboard, enjoying the pleasurable buzz that the combination of a goodscrew—well, a decentscrew—coupled with the nicotine gave.

7. (vulgar,slang) Acasualsexual partner.

   Synonyms:seeThesaurus:casual sexual partner

   • 1944,W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 5, inThe Razor’s Edge […], 1st American edition, Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Doran & Co.,→OCLC, section ii,page211:

     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 goodscrew.

   • 1990, Susan Lewis,Stolen Beginnings, HarperPaperbacks, published1992,→ISBN,page122:

     "Swear it!" Kathleen screamed. "Let her know that she's just anotherscrew. Because, darling, that's all you are. So go on, tell her!"

   • 1993, William Gill,Fortune's Child, HarperCollins Canada, published1994,→ISBN,page42:

     She was just a girl, like any of the girls he had had so easily, just anotherscrew.

   • 2009, Sam Moffie,The Book of Eli, Mill City Press, published2009,→ISBN,page 6:

     Mary was Eli's favoritescrew because she was clean, pretty, a good mother, funny, and alway was able to make herself available for their twice a week fucks as easily as he was.

8. (slang) Salary, wages.
   • 1887,Edith Nesbit,Man-Size in Marble:

     “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 herscrew. It will be all right. Let’s walk up to the church.”

   • 1888,Rudyard Kipling,In the Pride of His Youth:

     A certain amount of "screw" is as necessary for a man as for a billiard-ball.

9. (snooker,billiards)Backspin.
10. (slang) A smallpacket oftobacco.
    • 1847,Henry Mayhew,The Greatest Plague of Life:

      3Screws and a Pipe

11. (dated) An old, worn-out, unsound and worthless horse.
    • 1937,Siegfried Sassoon,The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston: Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, London: Faber and Faber, page 155 (Faber Paper 1972 edition):

      […] a gentleman of leisure, who enjoyed himself on a couple of spavinedscrews[…]; both of them, as Stephen said, looked lonely without a gig behind them.

12. (mathematics) A straight line in space with which a definitelinearmagnitude termed thepitch is associated. It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of arotation about anaxis combined with atranslationparallel to that axis.
13. Anamphipodcrustacean.

    the skeletonscrew (Caprella)

    the sandscrew

14. (informal, in theplural, with "the")Rheumatism.
    • 2000, Jacqueline Simpson, Stephen Roud,A Dictionary of English Folklore:

      She didn't like my mother, so she made a wax doll and stuck thorns into its legs, and my mother had thescrews (rheumatism) in her legs ever since.

• bolt
• lampholder

screw (third-person singular simple presentscrews,present participlescrewing,simple pastscrewed,past participlescrewedor(rare, nonstandard)screwn)

1. (transitive) To connect or assemble pieces using a screw.

   Synonyms:screw up;see alsoThesaurus:join

2. (ambitransitive,vulgar,slang) Tohavesexual intercourse with.

   Synonyms:(vulgar, slang)fuck,(Australia)root,(British)shag;see alsoThesaurus:copulate with

   • 1890, Albert G. Porter,Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana‎^[2]:

     Somebody told me [...] that she [...] acknowledged to him [...] that Nero [...] hadscrewed her (meaning had carnal intercourse with plaintiff) up stairs the night before.

     From Rodebaugh v. Hollingsworth, May, 1855.

   • 1986,John le Carré,A Perfect Spy:

     He had contemplated Pym in all the stages he had grown up with him, drunk with him and worked with him, including a night in Berlin he had totally forgotten until now when they had ended upscrewing a couple of army nurses in adjoining rooms.

   • 2014,The Visitors‎^[3]:

     "Maybe they weren'tscrewing, my dear. They were just hanging out, you know." "They werescrewing, my dear."

3. (transitive,slang) To cheat someone or ruin their chances in a game or other situation.

   Synonyms:(vulgar, slang)fuck,screw over

4. (transitive) Toextort or practiceextortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions; toput the screws on.
   • 1720,Jonathan Swift,A Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture:

     […] our country landlords, by unmeasurablescrewing 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[…]

   • 1884,Thorold Rogers,Six Centuries of Work and Wages:

     It is not surprising that the landowner strove toscrew his tenants.

5. (transitive) Tocontort.

   Synonyms:twist,writhe

   • 1690,John Dryden,Don Sebastian, act 2, scene 1:

     Hescrewed his face into a hardened smile.

   • 1918,Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter V, inThe Land That Time Forgot:

     I had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set out in search of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest I find him mangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove, when he suddenly emerged from among the boles, his ears flattened, his tail between his legs and his bodyscrewed into a suppliant S. He was unharmed except for minor bruises; but he was the most chastened dog I have ever seen.

6. (soccer,transitive) Tomiskick (a ball) by hitting it with the wrong part of the foot.
   • 2011 February 5, Chris Whyatt, “Wolverhampton 2 - 1 Man Utd”, inBBC‎^[4]:

     The visitors could have added an instant second, but Rooneyscrewed an ugly attempt high into Hennessey's arms after Berbatov cleverly found the unmarked England striker.

7. (billiards,snooker, pool) Toscrew back.
8. (US,slang,dated) Toexamine (a student)rigidly; to subject to a severeexamination.
9. (intransitive,US,slang, oftenimperative,dated) Toleave; togo away; toscram.[from early to mid 20th c.]
   • c.2009, Louis CK,Shit Ass Pet Fuckers‎^[5]:

     If you don't like it, fuckin'screw! It's Shit Ass Pet Fuckers. That's the way it's going to be.

10. (colloquial,transitive,imperative,vulgar)Used to express great displeasure with, or contemptuous dismissal of, someone or something.

    Synonyms:bugger,eff,to hell with

    Screw those jerks, andscrew their stupid rules!

11. (Should wedelete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)(colloquial,transitive) Togive up on, toabandon,delay, to notthink about someone or something.

    Synonyms:(vulgar, slang)fuck,forget,(Australia)sack

    Screw the homework for now.

    Screw him, let's run.

• unscrew

• Crews,crews