▪ I. screwing, vbl. n.
(ˈskruːɪŋ)
[f. screw v. + -ing1.]
a. The action of the verb (in its various senses); also, an instance of this.
| 1673 Remarques Humours Town 54 A scruing up the courage of a friend to those fantastick heights. 1680 Bunyan Mr. Badman (1905) 115 Extortion is a screwing from men more than by the Law of God or men is right. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. Introd. 18 Every Turn of their Hands, every Screwing of their Bodies. 1812 [see screwsman]. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. (Colburn) 27 The tall gentleman..played billiards with uncommon skill, and possessed all the delicate arts of chalking, and twisting, and screwing. 1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports §1647. 468 For screwing and creeping, however, he beat every horse we ever rode. Ibid. §1658. 470 Screwing..is a method of getting through the thick hedges that cannot be got over. 1848 Illustr. Lond. News 22 Jan. 36/2 Cheapness, economy, or ‘screwing’ will be found at the bottom of most railway casualties. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXV. 610/2 But if the vessel is caught in an ‘ice screwing’, the ramming together of giant floes, it will be crushed like an eggshell. 1903 Daily Chron. 21 July 11/1 Counsel explained that ‘screwing’ meant committing burglary. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xv. 248, I have eaten up my honour with random screwing. I have defiled myself. 1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot 262 Married to an old man. You've never had a proper screwing. 1971 C. Fick Danziger Transcript 70, I fail to see how an ancient screwing can be of current interest. |
b. attrib. and Comb. (in the sense ‘cutting screw threads’), as screwing apparatus, screwing-engine, screwing-machine, screwing table, screwing tackle, screwing tool, screwing trade; screwing die, stock = screw die, stock (see screw n.1 24).
| 1850 Ogilvie, Screwing-machine, a highly important implement..for forming the screws of bolts and nuts by means of the machinery of the factory. 1861 F. Campin Hand-Turning 120 Dies very similar to the above are also used in a machine called a screwing-engine. 1869 Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. R 1, Sets of screwing dies. Ibid., This form of screwing stock..produces threads approximating in accuracy to those cut by the slide lathe. 1870 Amateur Mech. Workshop 47 The above [stock] forms the most usual screwing apparatus of the general mechanic. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Screwing-table, a kind of screw-stock, used for forming threads of screw-bolts or wooden screws. 1890 Daily News 22 Sept. 2/6 Lifting and screwing tackle are in good demand. 1909 Installation News III. 58 Screwing tools. |
▪ II. screwing, ppl. a.
(ˈskruːɪŋ)
[f. screw v. + -ing2.]
That screws (in the senses of the verb).
| 1707 in Sewall's Diary (1879) II. 39* The Governour, with his Son Paul..are very Screwing and Exacting upon the People. 1737 Swift Let. 30 Mar., Wks. 1841 II. 789 Your society has raised the rents..to four times the value of what they formerly paid; which is beyond all I have ever heard even among the most screwing landlords of this impoverished kingdom. 1889 Daily News 25 May 5/4 Screwing ice, maëlstroms, and impassable ice..stopped them. 1960 [see blag n.]. 1966 L. Southworth Felon in Disguise v. 81 A geezer called Teagueman..does a bit of driving for the screwing mobs. |