screw

▪ I. screw, n.¹
    (skruː)
    Forms: 5 scrwe, skrew(e, 6–7 skrue, skrew, 6–8 scrue, 7– screw.
    [Apparently, in spite of the difference of sense, a. OF. escroue fem., also escro masc. (mod.F. écrou) female screw, nut; not found in the other Rom. langs. The Teut. langs. have (though not recorded from their earliest periods) a word meaning ‘screw’ which may be related in some way to the OF. word: MLG., MDu., schrûve (mod.Du. irreg. schroef), late MHG. schrûbe (mod.G. schraube), Sw. skrufva, mod.Icel. skr{uacu}fa, Da. skrue. The North-eastern OF. escruve, a screw (misread escrime: the examples are placed by Godefr. under that word), is prob. from MDu.
    The ultimate etymology of the Fr. word, and the nature of its relation, if any, to the Teut. words, remain obscure. Diez's suggestion that it represents the L. scrobem, ditch, is phonologically impossible. Baist, followed by Kluge, would refer both the Fr. and the Teut. words to the L. scrōfa sow (in med.L. also an engine for undermining walls), comparing the Sp. puerca sow, also (= tuerca) female screw; but this does not account for the Teut. forms. The supposition that the Fr. word is an adoption from the MLG. schrûve presents very great difficulties.]
    I. The general name for that kind of mechanical appliance of which the operative portion is a helical groove or ridge (or two or more parallel helical grooves or ridges) cut either on the exterior surface of a cylinder (male screw) or on the interior surface of a cylindrical cavity (female screw). Hence applied to various other contrivances resembling this.
    Ordinarily screw without defining word is taken to mean a male screw, which seems indeed to be the proper sense in Eng.; but there are occasional exceptions in speaking of instruments in which the female screw is the moving part of the combination.
    A screw is called right-handed or left-handed according as the rotation necessary to carry the screw away from the operator is towards his right or his left.
    1. A male screw (see above) with a correspondingly grooved or ridged socket in which it can revolve or which can revolve upon it; used for the purpose of converting a motion of rotation into a motion of translation bearing a fixed proportion to it. a. As an apparatus for raising weights or applying pressure or strain.
    For a supposed earlier instance see quot. 1393 under screen n. 1; skreu being prob. a misreading for skren, screen. Whether quot. 1497 belongs to this word is somewhat doubtful; the spelling skrewe would not be expected to occur so early if the Fr. etymology is correct.

1404 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 396 Item 1 rabitstoke cum 2 scrwes. 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 95 Skrewe with her apperell. Ibid. 122 Lading gynnes ij. Skrewes j. Wilkyn rammes iij. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 35 Then those great coches which themselues did driue With bended scrues, like things that were aliue? Ingenious Germane, how didst thou conuey Thy Springs, thy Scrues, thy rowells, and thy flie? 1629 Massinger Picture iv. ii, He moues like the faery King, on scrues and wheeles Made by his Doctors recipes. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxv. 352 He puts them into the Standing Press..observing to set in every Pile..an equal number of Books, that each Pile may equally feel the force of the Screw. a 1711 Ken Blandina Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 520 Then on the Rack the Saint they stretch, Her Limbs with Screws and Pulleys retch. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. i. iii. 59 A curious engine compounded of wheels, screws and pulleys. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 14 The hollow screw, or the counterpart in which a screw operates, when in the form of a small movable piece, is called a nut, and the cavity is termed a female screw. 1861 F. Campin Hand-turning v. 105 Double, triple, and quadruple screws, are those which have two, three, or four distinct threads upon them.

    b. Considered as one of the mechanical powers; in mechanical theory treated as a modification of the inclined plane.

1570 J. Dee Math. Pref. c iiij b, For, in many thinges, the Skrue worketh the feate, which, els, could not be performed. 1648 Wilkins Math. Magic i. ix. 56 The sixth and last Mechanick faculty, is the Screw, which is described to be a kind of wedge that is multiplyed, or continued by a helicall revolution about a Cylinder. 1764 J. Ferguson Lect. iii. 43 The screw..cannot properly be called a simple machine, because it is never used without the application of a lever. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 14 The screw is applied to mechanical purposes chiefly to obtain great pressures in small distances. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 33/2 The efficiency of the screw is largely diminished by friction... This contrasts the screw with the lever, for in the latter the effect of friction is quite imperceptible.

    c. Used for regulating or measuring longitudinal movement.

1612 Woodall Surg. Mate (1639) 7 Of the Speculum oris with a screw. 1833 Arnott Physics II. 158 The coal..was moved up like the wick of a lamp, by its screw. 1840 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 78/1 This movement may be also effected..by a screw and pinion. 1881 F. Campin Mech. Engin. iv. 50 The lathe generally travels the tool rest by a screw called the ‘leading screw’. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 244/2 The screws of micrometers are generally made with 50 or 100 threads to the inch.

    d. With various qualifying words. bench screw: a joiner's vice. double screw: one with a pair of screws to carry the vice-cheek with a parallel motion. endless screw: see endless a. 4 b. perpetual screw = prec. screw of Archimedes, water screw = Archimedean screw.

1574 Eden in Decades Life 47/1 An engin..wherewith a man with the strength of onely one hande, by helpe of the instrument called Trispaston (which in our tongue some cal an endlesse Scrue), brought a Shyp..from the lande into the sea. 1641 Water screw [see cochlea]. 1648 Wilkins Math. Magic i. ix. 60 Another invention, commonly styled a perpetuall screw, which hath the motion of a wheel, and the force of a screw. 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Invent. §54. 35 How to make a Water-scrue tite, and yet transparent. 1678 Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 60 The Bench-Screw..to Screw Boards in whiles the edges of them are Plaining or Shooting. Ibid. 61 Sometimes a double Screw is fixed to the side of the Bench. 1807 T. Young Nat. Philos. I. 328 A single pipe wound spirally round a cylinder which revolves on an axis in an oblique situation, has been denominated the screw of Archimedes. 1821 R. Turner Arts & Sci. 91 note, When the screw acts in a wheel, it is called a perpetual screw. 1848 L. Hunt Jar of Honey 187 The lower deck could be pumped by a single man, with the aid of a machine,..which we..name the screw of Archimedes.

    e. the screws (rarely the screw): an instrument of torture formerly in use, designed to compress the thumbs of a prisoner in order to extort a confession; the ‘thumbikins’. Cf. thumbscrew.

1663 Aron-bimn. 32 The Bedlam, and the chain, the whip and the skrews, all the violences of a severe discipline. a 1715 Burnet Own Time xvi. (1900) II. 422 Little screws of steel were made use of, that screwed the thumbs... They put his thumbs in the screws; and drew them so hard, that [etc.]. 1788 Cowper Negro's Compl. 31 Your knotted scourges, Matches, blood-extorting screws. 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 177 Crush the thumbs of the Jew With the vice and the screw, Till he tells where he buried his treasure. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 259 Carstairs..hated prelacy with the hatred of a man whose thumbs were deeply marked by the screws of prelatists.

    2. fig. a. A means of ‘pressure’ or coercion.

1648–9 Eikon Bas. xiv. 113 When Politicians most agitate desperate designs against all that is settled..in Religion, and Laws, which by such scrues are cunningly, yet forcibly wrested by secret steps..from their known rule and wonted practise. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 50 There being sufficient Props and Engines, nay Screws and Pulleys, if you will, to raise mens Love and Devotion. 1796 G. Walpole in B. Edwards Proc. Maroon Negroes 19 All this will..prove to your lordship the impropriety of holding forth more harsh conditions..: Should there be any person so dull..as to think that another turn of the screw would be better, ask him this question. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 497 This chief ought..to be pressed upon this point..and all the screws, menaces, &c. might be brought to bear upon him. 1855 Illustr. Lond. News 28 July 126/2 His Lordship owned himself unable to resist the mild influences of the ‘screw’ [sc. of a deputation]. 1861 Times 22 Aug., The farmer..the tradesman..the passengers who travelled less frequently.., had all felt the screw before it touched the Railways. 1883 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Nov. 3/1 If any body wants anything nowadays, he must put on the screw on the powers that be, and the only efficacious screw is that of agitation.

    b. Phrases. to put on, apply, turn the screw or screws and similar phrases: (a) to apply moral pressure; also, used of other kinds of pressure, e.g. the pressure of competition; (b) to force the payment of a debt or loan; also rarely, to limit the giving of credit. Also, occas., used of blackmail.

1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing xiv. 96 And if they don't they put the screws on 'em. 1845 Judd Margaret ii. vii. (1874) 290 We didn't put on the screws half hard enough. The Insargents ought to have been hung. 1852 Dow's Serm. I. 302 (Bartlett 1859) Love strains the heart-strings of the human race, and not unfrequently puts the screws on so hard as to snap them asunder. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., To put the screws on; to turn the screws, to press, and figuratively to extort, to enforce payment in money transactions; to force a debtor, by any compulsory means, to pay. 1860 All Year Round 26 May 160 When there is work and plenty of it, the operatives turn the screw upon the masters. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. x, These creditors..are sueing him in the..Court, thinking now's the time to put the screw on. 1882 E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis I. 317 The local authorities kept on the screw for their own private benefit. 1883 Sir H. Cotton in Law Times Rep. XLIX. 150/2 It cannot be said that he did it..for the purpose of putting the screw on the company, and forcing them to abandon a defence bona fide claimed by them. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xliii. 133 note, Occasionally the assessors of a country town take it into their heads to apply the screw. 1894 P. L. Ford Honorable Peter Stirling xli. 241 Then I can put the screws on him safely, you think? 1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet xxiii. 298 Gedge's nocturnal waylaying of him..was another unsuccessful attempt to tighten the screw. 1938 E. Ambler Cause for Alarm xi. 170 Everything..was prepared. It was only a question of waiting for Vagas to begin to turn the screw. 1977 Navy News Sept. 39/3 David Stracey kept the screws on, lunching with figures of three for 15 off ten overs. 1981 A. Morice Men in her Death viii. 93 She worked out this scheme for a phoney kidnap, to put the screws on.

    3. a. A metal pin or bolt (cylindrical or, more commonly, slightly tapering) with a spiral ridge upon its shank, used in joining articles of wood or metal, fastening fittings to wordwork, etc. (It is turned and driven in by means of a screwdriver or spanner.)
    Blake's screw: see quot. 1879. wood screw, a more definite name for the screw commonly used for woodwork.

1622 F. Markham Five Dec. War i. ix. 35 See that the breech [of the gun] be strong and close, all the screwes and pinnes about it fast and sure. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. i. ii. 22 And then I look upon the boards, the legs, the hinges, the screws, the glue..as one thing, which I call a table. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 105 A nut headed screw, is a large, thick screw with a strong thread. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 39 A screw-plate is a cheap and handy instrument for making screws. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 109/1 The blanks for wood-screws were formerly forged by the workmen who make nails. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 256/1 The outside planking is temporarily secured to the frames by fastenings, known as ‘Blake's screws’... These screws consist of bolts with an eye formed on one end and a wood-screw cut on the other. 1885 J. B. Leno Boot & Shoemaking xvi. 131 Brass, and Iron Screws. These are usually employed in clump work.

    b. a screw loose: fig. something wrong in the condition of things; a dangerous weakness in some arrangement. Now usu. with reference to persons or their mental faculties, esp. in colloq. phr. to have a screw loose: to be eccentric, insane, or mentally retarded. slang.

1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 166 The others..had got a screw loose. 1821 Ibid. VII. 192 A screw, it seems, has been loose between Neat and the Champion of England. 1848 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xli, It was evident that there was a screw loose in the programme. 1833 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 21 In fact, a genius with a screw loose, as we used to say. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xiii, I see well enough there's a screw loose in your affairs. 1870 R. Brough Marston Lynch xii. 110 There may be some little screw loose between him and the..step-daughter. 1873 Trollope Eustace Diamonds III. lxiii. 128 Something crooked about Lizzie,—a screw loose, as people say. Ibid. lxix. 215 Folks as would have a screw loose somewheres. 1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 314 Who will put his finger upon the loose screw? 1884 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 4 June 7/4, I really think this wonderful woman has a screw loose in her mental organization. 1928 [see nut n.1 7 c]. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 179 A person who is ‘wanting in the upper storey’..has a screw loose. 1963 Times 1 Feb. 8/7 He asked Mr. Galbraith if when he came across a person who was ‘limited intellectually’ he normally referred to him as ‘having a screw loose’. 1974 S. E. Morison European Discovery of America: Southern Voyages xxx. 725 His idea of England's opening a traffic with China independent of Spain and Portugal was sound. But there was a screw loose somewhere in Cavendish. 1977 Lancashire Life Nov. 63/1 An endearing little chap with a screw loose.

    c. Helical grooving or ridging.

1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 34/2 A bolt 12 inches long, and with 2 inches of screw on the end.

    4. a. Each of the component parts of a screw-fastening or screw-joint.

1648 Bury Wills (Camden) 217, I give him alsoe my chaine of beads with scrues. 1684 R. H. School of Recreation (1696) 165 And lastly his Landen Hook, with a Screw at the end to screw it into the socket of a Pole. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 22/2 The second..a long round Inke-horne, some haue only a screw at each end, one for Inke, the other to put in the pens. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 181 The tube is divided into four parts, which are well joined by screws.

    † b. needle and screw, screw and bodkin: some kind of fastening for jewellery. Obs.

1605 in Heriot's Mem. (1822) App. vii. 202 Item, put to v great diamondis, v needles, and v scrues of gold. 1607 Ibid. 213 Item, made a screw and a bodkin for a jewell. c 1610 Ibid. 217 For gold, and making of a needle and a skrew for the King of Denmark's picture.

    5. The worm or boring part of a gimlet; also, † the gimlet itself.

1577 Harrison England i. viii. 19/1 in Holinshed, Which some doe liken..to a vice, skrew, or wide sleeue, bycause they are very small at the east end, and large at west... They resemble the slope course of the cutting part of a skrew or gimlet. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Confession x, No scrue, no piercer can Into a piece of timber work and winde, As Gods afflictions into man. 1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 34 At the lower end [of the auger] is a worm or screw of a conic form, for entering the wood.

    6. a. An instrument terminating in a ‘worm’ for screwing into something in order to pull it out; esp. a corkscrew; also, the ‘worm’ itself. Also fig.
    screw or kettle = corkscrew (i.e. wine) or hot water (i.e. grog).

1657 W. Morice Coena quasi κοινὴ Dial. iii. 145 They must be strange Scrues and Wires that shall draw this conclusion from the Text. 1702 Bottle Screw [see bottle n.1 5]. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 461, I have stopped the bottle with a good cork; I can draw it out again with a screw. 1819 Edin. Ann. Reg. (1823) XII. App. 74 James Smith proved his making a worm or screw to the ramrod of the pistol. 1832 J. Barrington Sk. III. iv. 44 He was the hardest-goer either at kettle or screw..of the whole grand⁓jury. 1835 W. H. Maxwell My Life II. i. 7 Good eating, produced good drinking;..and the commander politely inquired whether I would be for ‘screw or kettle’.

    b. A gunner's instrument. Obs. exc. Hist.

? 1594 Barwick Disc. Weapons 8 His scrues and wormes to serue all for his skowring sticke. 1611 Cotgr., Tirebourre, a worme, or skrue; the Instrument wherewith a charged Cannon is vnladen. 1870 C. C. Black tr. A. Demmin's Weapons of War 499 Swiss cannon rammer..the end of which contains a wadding screw.

    7. A screw-propeller (see propeller 3).
    hoisting screw, one adapted to be disconnected and lifted when not required for use.

[1788 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 408 We..constructed a machine in the form of a screw with short blades, and placed it in the stern of the boat, which we turned with a crank. 1815 R. Trevithick in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Marine Propulsion (1858) 62 A worm or screw..which revolves in a cylinder,..or without a cylinder, at the head, sides, or stern of a vessel.] 1838 Civil. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 385/1 The propeller or paddle..will be worked by a communicating shaft, acting upon a screw called the Archimedean screw, in the application or use of which the invention is grounded. 1839 Ibid. II. 442/2 The screw [of the Archimedes] consisted of one whole turn of a single thread, 7 feet in diameter, and 8 feet pitch. 1861 Murray Shipbuilding 131/1 The hoisting screw has been adopted generally for war-steamers. 1867 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 302 The passage here was delightful, and we had scarcely motion beyond that of the screw.

    8. A ship driven by a screw-propeller.
    (Ellipt. for screw-steamer.)

[1844 Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin. III. 82 A diagram of the propeller used on board the ‘Liverpool Screw’.] 1861 in M. W. Disher Cowells in Amer. (1934) 330 Destroyed the line-of-battleship New York, on the stocks, besides scuttling the Merrimac, first-class screw, the German-town, sloop of war. 1867 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 310 These screws are tremendous ships for carrying on, and for rolling. 1876 A'Beckett Holiday in Scot. Highlands 2 The ‘Seven Stars’ was a long three⁓masted screw. 1887 Scribner's Mag. I. 533/2 Many of the iron screws..are still in..service.

    9. a. Something having a spiral course or form.

1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, cccxlvi, This subtle Gin Thus open'd, & hee following the Scrue, Run in a Labirinth, without a Clew. 1682 Phil. Collect. XII. 151 They have a skrue or spiral Valve within them..; this skrue in both the Intestina winds about twenty turns. 1833 Brewster Nat. Magic x. 251 The German also exhibited his strength in twisting into a screw a flat piece of iron. 1857 Gosse Omphalos 136 [Screw-pine.] A tree of this size makes a ‘screw’, or imperfect spire of leaves in about three years. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. x, There was scarcely the screw of his tail to be seen.

    b. = screw-stone (see 24).

1729 Woodward Catal. Eng. Fossils ii. 102 A Mass of Stone, with several of these Screws... From the same Mine. c 1774 J. Walcott Descr. Petrifactions 41 Stones. Which represent the interior form of univalve shells; in which they were moulded when soft... From Fig. 48. to Fig. 54. inclusive are called by the quarry-men Screws. 1860 R. Damon Geol. Weymouth & Portl. 76 The common ‘screw’, Cerithium Portlandicum, so characteristic of the roach [-bed], is almost entirely absent.

    10. slang. a. (See quots.)

1795 Potter Dict. Cant (ed. 2), Screw, a false key. 1811 Lex. Balatron., Screw, a skeleton key... To stand on the screw signifies that a door is not bolted, but merely locked. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., To screw a place is to enter it by false keys; this game is called the screw. Any robbery effected by such means is termed a screw. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 29 May 2/1 So the next night I borrows a bunch of screws—them's skeleton keys—and an old jemmy.

    b. A prison warder, a turnkey.

1812 P. Egan Boxiana 1st Ser. I. 122 Where flash has been pattered in all that native purity of style, and richness of eloquence, which would have startled a High Toby Gloque, and put a Jigger Screw [i.e. a prison warder] upon the alert. 1821 ― Life in Lond. ii. (1869) 60 Washing the ivory with a prime screw. Ibid. xiv. 379 The officer..was compelled to put him under the screw. 1877 Five Yrs. Penal Serv. ii. 77 The slang name for all the officials is ‘screws’. 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. June 367/1 Should there be a superfluity of ‘screws’ (warders) on the spot..your door is opened and the regulation bun..is handed in. 1933 [see gold braid s.v. gold1 10]. 1948 [see bent ppl. a. 5 a]. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 223 The lights never out, pervy screws watching every movement. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 68/2 Men..call their keepers ‘guards’, ‘officers’,..‘screws’.

    II. Senses derived from screw v.
    11. a. An act of screwing up; a turn of the screw.

1709 Wodrow Corr. (1843) I. 84 So I term those that..are followers of Mr M{supc}Millan, and some that are a screw higher than he. 1781 Cowper Truth 385 What is man?.. An instrument, whose chords upon the stretch, And strain'd to the last screw that he can bear, Yield only discord in his Maker's ear. 1796 Earl Balcarres in B. Edwards Proc. Maroon Negroes 20, I am perfectly with you, that the pin ought not to receive another screw; but also clear that it ought not to be relaxed.

    b. Billiards. A stroke by which a twist is given to the cue-ball by striking it below its centre; also, the twist resulting from this stroke, esp. in the phrase to put on screw.

1849 H. Turner Billiards (title-page), The Side Stroke—the Screw—and the Double. 1856 Pardon (‘Capt. Crawley’) Billiards (1859) 17 The Screw or Twist..is made by striking your ball very low, with a sort of jerk. 1866 ― Billiard Bk. iii. 38–9 The High Oblique Screw. The effect of the High Screw is to cause the ball to jump a little, and to twist back on reaching the Object-ball. Ibid. ix. 106 The Slow-screw is made with a decided twist, your ball struck low. 1873 Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 190 Balls thus struck are said to be played with screw.

    c. Cricket. A twist imparted to the ball in its delivery. Also a ball to which a spin has been imparted at its delivery. Similarly in Lawn Tennis.

1840 Bell's Life 2 Aug. 2/2 Morewood joined Morrier, who at length received a ‘Winchester screw’, which shattered his timber. 1865 J. Pycroft Cricketana ix. 169 Clarke could put on a decided screw..with a ball well pitched up. 1867 Selkirk Guide to Cricket Ground 35 Screw, a twist put upon the ball by the bowler to make it vary in pace and direction after the pitch. 1868 J. Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. 62 Southerton's ‘screws’ were the main cause of Kent's discomfiture. 1891 W. G. Grace in Outdoor Games 13 The next ball, very swift, with lots of screw on, is snicked into the slips. 1931 A. Powell Afternoon Men iii. xxiii. 203 She served under⁓handed screws that Pringle could not take.

    d. Rowing. The action of swinging the body from one side to the other during the stroke. (Cf. screw v. 18 a.)

1875 W. B. Woodgate Oars & Sculls viii. 64 For the fault which causes the screw may be his own, though unconnected with his swing.

    12. coarse slang. a. A prostitute; a woman considered in sexual terms; a (good, bad, etc.) sexual partner (in this use, prob. transf. from sense b).

1725 New Canting Dict., A screw, a Strumpet, a common Prostitute. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 738/1 Screw,..a woman qua sexual pleasure. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §507/2 Prostitute,..screw. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 93 ‘A bloody good screw’ might refer to an attractive girl. 1969 S. Coulter Embassy xi. 120, I like to figure you're my regular screw, see. A whole lot more exciting. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xlix. 507 As a matter of fact, he's not such a great screw, but at least he isn't a nag, the way you are.

    b. An act of sexual intercourse, esp. of a hasty and casual nature. Also fig.

1929 F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 9 Sept. (1963) 307 Here's a last flicker of the old cheap pride: the Post now pays the old whore $4000 a screw. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 738/1 Screw,..an act of copulation. 1967 A. Wilson No laughing Matter iii. 387 He felt randy as hell but he hadn't even got the price of a quick screw. 1971 P. L. Cave Chopper ii. 12 Five or six Angel birds sat around over cold cups of coffee waiting for a fast ride or a quick screw. 1978 G. Greene Human Factor iv. ii. 209, I like a good screw as much as the next man, but it's not all that important, is it?

    13. slang. A tonic, a ‘pick-me-up’.

1877 Five Yrs. Penal Serv. iii. 232 He was in the habit of taking every morning a ‘screw’ in the shape of a little dose of bitters to correct the effects of the last evening's festivities.

    14. a. The state of being twisted awry; a contortion (of the body or features).

1708 Hickelty Pickelty in Ashton Soc. Life Q. Anne I. 140 The nice Management of his Italian Snuff box, and the affected Screw of his Body, makes up a great Part of his Conversation. 1828 Lights & Shades I. 195 You are all in a screw: every limb is disjointed: you lisp and you smile. 1848 Dickens Dombey i, Running up to him with a kind of screw in her face and carriage, expressive of suppressed emotion.

    b. the screws: rheumatism (cf. screwmatic a. and n.). slang.

1897 G. Bartram People of Clopton 51 In bed roarin' mad wi' the screws. 1970 G. E. Evans Where Beards wag All ix. 107 Now I know all about the east wind, and I can't move my left leg without having the screws. 1976 ‘L. Black’ Healthy Way to Die ii. 11 Any rheumatism? An occasional touch of the screws, she admitted.

    15. A small portion (of a commodity) wrapped up in a twist or cornet of paper; esp. a penny packet (of tobacco); also, a wrapper of this kind.

1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Tuggses at Ramsgate, The poisonous voice of envy distinctly asserted that he..retailed..tobacco by the screw, and butter by the pat. 1839 ‘J. Fume’ Paper on Tobacco 114 A penny paper of tobacco is in London termed a screw. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxvi, A knife, some butter, a screw of salt. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, A halfpenny-worth of snuff in a cornet or ‘screw’ of paper. 1893 F. M. Peard Swing of Pendulum i, Followed by children shyly inviting him to buy paper screws, containing each four or five strawberries.

    16. One who forces down (prices) by haggling; a stingy, miserly person.

1835 Frith Autobiog. (1888) III. iii. 46 Aunt is just as great a screw as ever. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair viii, They both agreed in calling him an old screw; which means a very stingy, avaricious person. 1893 C. G. Leland Mem. II. 211 He and his wife had the reputation of being fearful screws.

    17. U.S. College slang. (See quot.)

1851 B. H. Hall College Words 265 In some American colleges, an..unnecessarily minute, and annoying examination of a student by an instructor is called a screw. The instructor is often designated by the same name. An imperfect recitation is sometimes thus denominated. Ibid., Passing such an examination is often denominated taking a screw.

    18. A look, stare, or gaze; esp. in phr. to have a screw at: to look at. slang (orig. Austral.). Cf. screw v. 15.

1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 44 Screw (vb. or n.), look. 1928 [see rumble v.1 6]. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 12/2 (caption) Election Canvasser: ‘Is your wife a Feminist?’ The Worm: ‘S-sh have a screw at me.’ 1934 T. Wood Cobbers vi. 84 Have a screw at that bullick. a 1966 ‘M. na Gopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 57 And of a Sunda the Frenchmen do be walkin' around the gardens havin' a screw at the statues. 1969 New Society 13 Nov. 762/3 The skinhead contribution to their parents' beliefs is this characteristic rigour. ‘If we see any hippies, you know, they give you the screw, you know. I don't like it,’ says Bill, using ‘screw’ to mean ‘stare’.

    III. Senses of obscure origin.
    19. A horse not perfectly sound; also transf., a cow not perfectly healthy.
    Perh. originally a race-horse that can be made to obtain a place by ‘screwing’ on the part of the jockey.

1821 Sporting Mag. VIII. 262 The farrier..pronounced her ‘a most complete screw’. 1847 Illustr. Lond. News 2 Oct. 219/2 Mr Drinkald [won] the Chester Cup, with an old screw. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel xviii, ‘Doctor’, replied Sir Austin, ‘if you had a pure-blood Arab barb would you cross him with a screw?’ 1864 Hotten's Slang Dict. (1865), Screw, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along. 1891 Law Times XC. 395/1 Defendant bought the cow in question and a smaller one..remarking that they were both screws. 1893 Chesney Lesters III. ii. xxi. 12 Lionel was mounted on an obvious screw, but in good going condition.

    20. slang. Salary, wages.

1858 D. Beveridge Let. in Ld. Beveridge India called Them (1947) ii. 26 Their delay in announcing an augmentation of screw. 1864 Hotten's Slang Dict., Screw, salary or wages. 1884 Hunter & Whyte My Ducats xxviii. (1885) 453, I said it was in payment of my screw—my salary, I mean. 1894 Doyle Sherlock Holmes 58 The screw was a pound a week. 1917 A. Huxley Let. 8 Apr. (1969) 123, I go there next week—screw, they tell me, from {pstlg}200 to {pstlg}250. 1939 D. L. Sayers In Teeth of Evidence 91 Is he in a good way of business? Good screw, I mean? Comfortable, and all that? 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman iii. 95 He's offered me the job With a jolly good screw, and some pickings in commissions. 1981 ‘M. Innes’ Lord Mullion's Secret ii. 20 Cyprian would have to be found... ‘A niche with a good screw to it.’

    IV. attrib. and Comb.
    21. Simple attrib. a. with the meaning ‘of or belonging to a screw’, as screw-arbor, screw-curve, screw-head, screw-hole, screw motion, screw-worm.

1777 Ramsden Descr. Engine 1 A Circle of Brass being fixed on the *Screw Arbor.

1856 Orr's Circ. Sci., Mech. Philos. 247 The drawing of a *screw-curve.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 436/1 A Key for a *Screw Head.

1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Passage iii. 52 The *screw holes in the flaunches.

1852 Seidel Organ 63 There is upon every key a *screw⁓worm and brass wire.

    b. with the meaning, ‘of or pertaining to a screw-propeller’, as screw-blade, screw-post, screw-shafting.

1844 Proc. Instit. Civ. Engin. III. 77 The *screw blades.

1882 Ogilvie, *Screw-post, the inner stern-post through which the shaft of a screw propeller passes.

1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Aug. 3/2 A warship..with all her armour in its place, her *screw-shafting and propeller fitted.

    c. with the meaning ‘fitted with, or driven by means of, a screw-propeller’, as screw boat, screw ship, screw steamer, screw steamship, screw vessel; also screw fleet, a fleet of screw-vessels.

1848 Woodcroft Steam Navig. 91 The screw boat, the Francis B. Ogden. Ibid. 101 The first screw steamer, the Ericsson. 1850 E. P. Halsted Screw-fleet of Navy Introd. 4 These trials..caused their Lordships to lay the foundation of our present Screw Fleet, by ordering the construction of ‘Screw ships’..to the extent of twenty-three vessels. Ibid. ii. 12 Screw-frigates. Ibid. 14 Screw-corvettes. 1852 J. Bourne Screw Propeller x. 216 H.M.S. ‘Amphion’, the first screw vessel constructed in this country. 1854 F. Moresby Two Admirals (1909) 158 The ability of the screw fleet to hold the Russian ships in check. 1861 Murray Ship-building 132/2 Results of Trials made in her Majesty's Screw-ships. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 825/2 Screw steamship propulsion.

    d. Used in names of appliances operated by or working upon a screw, as screw-borer, screw-brake, screw candlestick, screw-clamp, screw-collar, screw-elevator, screw-feed, screw gill, screw lever, screw lifting jack, screw-pad, screw-valve, screw-ventilator.

1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Borer, *Screw-borer, an instrument..for searching or exploring the nature of any soil.

1871 Z. Colburn Locomotive Engin. xxv. 268/2 A *screw⁓brake is applied to the engine.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 315 *Screw Candlestick, with double sockets..; by the help of the Screws the sockets are raised or lowered according to pleasure.

1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 302 These gallies are attached to the four sides of the central axis of the prism by the *screw-clamps.

1854 Pereira Lect. Polar. Light 301 By means of a *screw-collar he managed to vary the distance between the first and second compound lens.

1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Screw Elevator.

1874 Raymond 6th Rep. Mines 512 In place of the *screw-feed..a new hydraulic feed has been tried with success.

1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 765 Thus constructed the ‘*screw gill’ continues to be the most esteemed in principle. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning v. §65. 62 Screw gill boxes.

1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 796/2 s.v. Weaving, The rollers..are cylinders, pressed together by a *screw lever.

1851 Offic. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 236 Improved *screw lifting jacks.

1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 257 Pressure is made with a *screw-pad over the extremity of the wounded artery.

1850 Fownes Elem. Chem. (ed. 3) 159 Furnished with a *screw-valve of peculiar construction.

    22. Objective and obj. genitive, as screw-chasing, screw-cutter, screw-cutting, screw-maker, screw-making, screw-manufacturer, screw-slotting; instrumental, as screw-driven, screw-propelled, screw-torn adjs.; parasynthetic, as screw-stoppered, screw threaded adjs.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Screw Chasing, the cutting..of screw threads in the lathe by means of chasing tools.

1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 605 The temporary *screw-cutter possesses the same interval or thread as before. 1909 Daily Chron. 2 Feb. 9/7 Wanted..Engineer.—Good general turner and screw cutter.

1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xi. 82 *Screw-cutting. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 580 The screw-cutting lathe.

1955 Times 6 June 6/6 Experience has shown that paddle tugs are more efficient than *screw-driven tugs for work in confined basins.

1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 209 A Staffordshire *screw-maker.

1747 Gen. Descr. Trades 21 *Screw-making is also a Branch by itself. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 109/1 In the infancy of screw-making the thread was formed with a file. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 588 The screw-making machine.

1848 Woodcroft Steam Navig. 101 The New Jersey was the first *screw-propelled vessel practically used in America.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Screw Slotting, the slotting of the grooves in the heads of cheese-headed and button-headed screws.

1891 Daily News 1 Dec. 7/4 Two tin gallon cans, *screw-stoppered, full of naphtha. 1907 Hodges Elem. Photogr. 29 Never..use screw-stoppered beer or other bottles.

1865 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Nails (1873) 291 *Screw-threaded bolts.

1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. vii. 143 The little schooner staggered..in a rush of *screw-torn water, as a liner's stern vanished in the fog.

    23. a. Similative, as in screw-twist; screw-like, screw-shaped adjs.; screw-wise adv.; also quasi-adj. with the meaning ‘spiral’, as in screw gut, screw gutter, screw motion, screw stair, screw stair-case.

1681 Grew Musæum i. §v. i. 99 The *Skrew-Gut of the Raja..winds between parallel lines like a Screw or Stair⁓case.

1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §738 The water might be conducted more regularly from the apex to the base..by forming round it a *screw gutter.

1705 Observ. Seed-Vessels Polypodium in Phil. Trans. XXV. 1872 The *Screw-like parts of the Seed Vessel. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 754/2 Screw-like or helical motion.

1882 Minchin Unipl. Kinematics 244 *Screw Motion of a Liquid.

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. xiii. (1776) 34 The Figure of the Filaments is either..Spiral, *Skrew-shaped, as in Hirtella [etc.].

1867 N. Macleod Starling II. x. 116 He.. lived in a very small house, above his shop, which was reached by a *screw stair.

1786 Mackenzie Lounger No. 87 §6 A *screw stair-case.

1894 R. Bridges Nero ii. iii. ii. 1234 Very few Are what they show the world: there's a *screw-twist In every mind.

1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 46 Fasten to each of the two pieces that are to enter into one another, some Iron, Copper, or Silver wire, turned *Screw-wise.

    b. Similative (quasi-adj.), as in screw-shell, screw snail, screw-turbo, applied to various gasteropods with slender spiral shells.

1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 212 There is a Sort of Water-Snails at the Cape, which the Europeans there call Screw-Snails. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Turbo, the Screw-Shell... 5. The screw-Turbo, with variegated lines and spots. 1819 W. Turton Conchol. Dict. 62 Helix Terebra. Screw Snail-shell. Ibid. 95 Murex Gyrinus. Screw Rock⁓shell. Ibid. 165 Strombus. Screw-shell. Ibid. 216 Turbo Terebra. Screw Turban. 1859–62 Sir J. Richardson, etc. Mus. Nat. Hist. (1868) II. 339 The family of Turret or Screw shells (Turritellidæ).

    24. a. Special combinations: screw-alley, -area (see quots.); screw auger, an auger with a spiral shank; screw axis Cryst., an axis such that a combination of rotation about it and translation along it constitutes a symmetry operation, but neither does so alone; screw-barrel n., (a) a fire-arm with a screwed barrel; (b) Mech. (see quot. 1888); screw-barrel a., (a) of a fire-arm, having a screwed barrel (see screwed ppl. a. 5 b); (b) of a microscope, having a threaded barrel by means of which the microscope is focused; screw battery, a battery composed of screw-guns (see below); screw-bell (see quot.); screw-blank, the piece of metal upon which a thread or worm is to be cut to form a screw; screw-block Basketry, a device for holding stakes rigid during rectangular work; screw board (see quot.); screw-bolt, a bolt with a thread or worm at the end to be secured by means of a screw-nut; hence screw-bolt v., trans., to fasten with a screw-bolt; hence screw-bolting vbl. n., the use of screw-bolts; screwbound a., (a) fastened or held by a screw or screws (sense 10 a in quot.); (b) (see quot. 1966); screw-box, † (a) = nut n.¹ 11; (b) a tool for cutting the thread on a wooden screw; screw bulb, an electric light bulb having a threaded base enabling it to be screwed into a socket; screw-cap (see quot. 1875); also more generally, = screw top; hence screw-capped a.; screw-chuck, a variety of lathe-chuck (see quot.); screw compressor (see quot. 1967); screw-coupling (see quot.); screw-cut a., fashioned as a screw, furnished with a screw-thread; screw-die = die n.¹ 6 a; screw dislocation Cryst., a form of crystal defect characterized by a unit distortion of the lattice in a particular direction such that the lattice planes perpendicular to that direction form continuous spiral sheets; screw-dock U.S., a dock in which the cradle is raised by screws; screw-dog, a clamp adjustable by a screw, to hold timber while being sawn; screw-dollar U.S., ‘a medallion of which the obverse and reverse may be screwed together to form a box’ (Cent. Dict. 1891); screw-drill, a drill with a spiral shank; screw engine, (a) a machine for raising water by means of a screw, a water-screw; (b) a steam-engine adapted to drive a screw-propeller; screw-eye, (a) a screw having a loop or eye for its head; (b) ‘a long screw with a handle, used in theatres by stage carpenters in securing scenes’ (Cent. Dict.); screw-eyed a., having the eyes screwed up; screw-fish ? U.S., ‘fish packed under a screw press’ (Cent. Dict.); screw fly U.S., a blow-fly of the genus Cochliomyia, C. hominivorax or C. macellaria, which deposits eggs on animal carcasses or open wounds; screw forging, a screw-blank of forged iron; screw-gear, gear consisting of an endless screw and a toothed wheel; screw-grip (action), see quot. and grip n.¹ 5; screw-gun, see quot. 1877–81; screw-hammer, an adjustable spanner with a heavy, hammer-like head; screw-hook, (a) see quot. 1688; (b) see quot. 1875; (c) a small hook, usually of brass, with a screwed shank to screw into woodwork; screw-jack = Jack n.¹ 10; screw-joint, (a) Mech., a joint formed by screwing together the ends of piping, etc.; (b) Anat., a joint in which there is a slight lateral sliding of one bone upon the other; screw-key, (a) = screw-wrench; (b) a key furnished with a thread or worm; screw-line Bot. (see quot.); screw-lock, one operated by turning a wormed key on a similarly wormed pin; screw-machine, (a) a machine operated by a screw; (b) a machine for making screws (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); (c) see quot. 1884; screw-man U.S. Hist., a worker who packed bales into cotton-ships; screw-mandrel, a screw-cutting mandrel having on its spindle screws of various sizes and pitches; screw medal U.S. = screw-dollar (Cent. Dict.); screw micrometer (see micrometer 2); screw mill, a mill for driving screw-cutting machinery; screw-moulding, (a) the moulding of screws in sand for casting; (b) the forming of screws in metal collars, caps, etc. (Cent. Dict.); † screw mouth, an ill-shaped mouth; screw-nail, a screw or wood-screw (see sense 3); screw nut = nut n.¹ 11; † screw pelican Dentistry (see quot.); screw pile, a foundation pile with a screw at its lower end adapted for screwing instead of driving; hence screw-pile, -piled adjs., built upon screw piles; screw-plate, a hardened steel plate for cutting the threads of small screws by means of a series of drilled and tapped holes of various diameters; Screw Plot Hist., an imaginary plot to destroy the Queen and the Court on Thanksgiving Day, 1710, by the removal of some of the iron bolts from the timbers of the roof of St. Paul's in order to cause its fall; screw-press, a machine in which pressure is applied by means of a screw; screw propeller (see propeller 3); screw-pump, an Archimedean screw; † screw range, ? a cooking range with screw adjustment for the grate; screw-rasp, a kind of file (see quot.); screw rod, a binding or connecting rod with a screw and nut at one or both ends (Cent. Dict.); † screw-rope, ? a rope for use with some form of screw-jack; screw-rudder (see quot.); screw shackle (joint), a variety of coupling joint; screw-shaft, (a) a shaft having a screw-thread cut upon it; (b) see quot. 1869; screw spanner = screw-wrench; screw-spike (see quot.); screw stock = die n.¹ 6 a; screw-stone, a stone containing the hollow cast of an encrinite (= pulley-stone, pulley n.¹ 5); screw tail, a dog's tail which is twisted or crooked; screw-tap, (a) a screw of hardened steel used for cutting an internal or female screw; (b) a draw-tap with a screw-down plug; screw-thread, the spiral ridge of a screw; also, one complete turn of its thread regarded as a portion of a unit of length of the axis of the screw; screw tool, a lathe-tool for cutting screws; screw-tool cutter (see quot.); screw top, a round cap or lid that can be screwed on to a bottle, jar, or the like; also attrib.; hence screw-topped a.; screw-turn (dial.), -turner, a screwdriver; † screw-ways adv., in a spiral or twisted direction; screw-well (see quot.); screw-wheel, the toothed wheel associated with the endless screw in screw-gearing; screw-wire, a cable-twisted wire used to fasten the soles of boots to the uppers (Cent. Dict.); screw-wise adv., after the manner of a screw, spirally; screw worm, (a) see quot. a 1892; (b) U.S., the larva of a screw fly, which has spiny hairs encircling each segment; screw-worm chuck = screw-chuck; screw worm fly = screw fly; screw-wrench, a wrench or spanner adapted to fit over or grasp the heads of screw-bolts, nuts, etc., and turn them. Also screw-cut, -cutter, -cutting, -driver, -pin.

1866 Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 685/2 In screw-steamers,..a tunnel, known as the *screw-alley, has to be kept open for the shaft of the screw from the engine-room to the stern.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Screw Area in a propeller is the area of the circle described by the tips of the blades.

1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 149 They were at work..with broad axes and *screw augers.

1903 H. Hilton Math. Crystallogr. xvi. 146 The combination of a rotation about an axis and a translation parallel to it is called a screw about that axis; and if such a combination brings a figure U to self-coincidence the axis is called a *screw-axis of symmetry for U. 1937 W. L. Bragg Atomic Struct. Minerals i. 13 It is the possibility of screw axes and glide planes, in addition to rotation axes and reflection planes, which gives rise to the large number of space-groups. 1974 Nature 11 Jan. 85/2 Dark-field observation could establish the presence of centres of symmetry, glide planes and screw axes, which could lead to the establishment of the space group.

1742 Phil. Trans. XLII. 173 A short *Screw-barrel Pistol. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xl. 179 Being ignorant also how to use the screw-barrels, he offered to return them. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Screw Barrel, a chain barrel having a continuous spiral groove cut around its periphery to receive the links edgeways. 1926 Catal. Optical & Gen. Sci. Instrum. Optical Convention 1926 287 Ivory screw-barrel microscope: by J. Wilson, with eight powers (unsigned, circa 1706). 1956 Nature 7 Jan. 8/1 Another contemporary scientist interested in optics was the Dutch microscopist Nicolaas Hartsoeker, born on March 26, 1656. He published in 1694 an ‘Essai de Dioptrique’ in which he illustrated his invention, the screw-barrel microscope, generally associated with the name of Wilson, who introduced it to England.

1877–81 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. Suppl. 26/2 The *screw battery did excellent service in the last Afghan war.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Screw-bell, a recovering tool in deep boring, ending below in a hollow screw-threaded cone.

1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 147 The *screw-blank being exactly turned in the lathe to the thickness and length required.

1924 C. Crampton Cane Work 34 Oblong Cane Base... This kind of base cannot be made without using a ‘screw lock’, which acts as a vice for holding the sticks or stakes in an upright position. The *screw block consists of two wooden blocks with thumbscrews for tightening purposes. 1959 D. Wright Baskets & Basketry ii. 45 A Rectangular Base is made in a screw-block.

1887 Archit. Publ. Soc. Dict., *Screw board, or Side board, the vertical board at the side of a carpenter's bench pierced with holes..which admit of pins for holding up the object to be planed [etc.].

1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §42 The..fastening of the outside uprights to the solid, by means of Jag-bolts, or *screw-bolts.

1795 Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 376 Two loops..are *screw-bolted to the ends of them.

1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. xxi. 475 *Screw-bolting has been almost universally adopted in the French iron-clads.

1892 G. B. Shaw in Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Feb. 2/3 In order that they might secure the door on the outside and so retain my audience *screwbound to the last syllable of the vote of thanks. 1966 A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 85 Hinge is screwbound when the heads of the screws are not sunk correctly into their counter⁓sinking.

1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. i. 5 The Nut or *Screw-Box hath also a Square Worm. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 593 The instrument which is commonly employed for making long screws in the soft woods, namely, the screw box.

1960 Practical Wireless XXXVI. 302/2 A 500mA fuse..takes the form of 6V, 0·5A *screw bulb.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Screw-cap, 1. A cover to protect or conceal the head of a screw. 2. A cover for a fruit-jar. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 35/2 Ointment pots. Flint glass. Nickle screw cap. 1936 Lancet 3 May 1160/2 The United Glass Bottle Manufacturers, Ltd., have produced a double-shell metal cap for bottles and pots. This cap has all the advantages of the ordinary screw-cap. 1972 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iv. iii. 17 Screw cap, cap..in the form of a screw thread.

1898 York Glass Company (Ltd.) Price List 3 Pomade Bottles..Metal *Screw Capped. 1964 M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) iv. 35 They are conveniently disposed for use in quantities of about 3 ml. in 1 oz. screw-capped bottles.

1895 Mod. Steam Eng. 87 The *screw-chuck..shows on its right side a flat circular surface, from the centre of which projects a large, coarse, conical screw for holding firmly any large piece of wooden work.

1958 S. Afr. Mining & Engin. Jrnl. LXIX. 243/1 The rotary *screw compressor is built on the principle of an invention made by Professor A. Lysholm of Stockholm. 1967 Gloss. Terms Materials Handling (B.S.I.) iii. 17 Screw or worm type compressor, a rotary compressor having left hand and right hand worms in close engagement, which entrain the air or gas and eject it at a higher pressure. 1975 Offshore Engineer Dec. 57/1 Atlas Copco is to supply six ZR4 screw compressors and ancillary equipment to be built into two modules by the fabricating engineers.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Screw-coupling, (a) a device for joining the ends of two vertical rods or chains and giving them any desired degree of tension; (b) a screw-socket for uniting pipes or rods.

1794 Rigging & Seamanship X 2 b, Cylindrical pieces of wood or iron, *screw-cut at one end.

1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 593 On cutting external screws, with *screw dies.

[1940 J. M. Burgers in Proc. Physical Soc. LII. 25 Dislocation lines of this character will be said to be of the screw type.] 1948 Rep. Conf. Strength of Solids, 1947 (Physical Soc.) 46 We may take the simpler case of a *screw dislocation (Burgers' second type), lying along the x axis. 1966 McGraw–Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 585/1 Screw dislocations have been shown to be important for crystal growth from the vapor phase. 1978 P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. xxviii. 931 The surface defect formed by a screw dislocation is a ledge, possibly with some kinks, where growth can occur.

1864 Webster, *Screw-dock. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gridiron... The Americans also use for a similar purpose an apparatus called a screw-dock.

1869 Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. Q 16, 4 The carriages to support the ends of the timber are furnished with adjustable *screw-dogs.

1869 C. Knight Mechanician 126 A *screw-drill..is advantageous for drilling long holes.

1767 J. Ferguson Lect. Suppl. 22 Archimedes's *Screw-Engine for raising water. 1852 J. Bourne Screw Propeller ix. 199 Screw engines are divisible into two great classes—geared screw engines and direct-acting screw engines.

1873 Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Nails, etc. 332 *Screw-eyes, adapted for holding stair rods [etc.].

1810 Splendid Follies I. 158 The demure looking *screw-eyed cat.

1884 R. Aldridge Life on Ranch 191 We were a good deal troubled..by what is called ‘*screw fly’. 1945 J. J. Mathews Talking to Moon 20 Sometimes their hides were torn, thus inviting screw flies.

1818 E. Woolley in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Nails, etc. (1873) 19 The *screw forging is formed or shaped from round or cylindrical rod iron.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Screw-gear. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 14 May 4/2 The commutator is driven by screw-gear from the magneto driving shaft.

1897 Encycl. Sport I. 498/2 [Guns] The *Screw Grip Action... The barrels..are held down, first by the ordinary Purdey bolt system operated by a vertical shaft..; this shaft carries upon it the ‘screw grip’..working in a square-threaded screw cut in..the breech.

1877–81 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. Suppl. 26/1 To be added to the list of M.T. guns is the *screw gun, which takes in two, being fastened together by a screw, hence its name.

1896 H. G. Wells Wheels of Chance iv. 24 Just then the *screw-hammer slipped off the nut. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 61/1 The inner screws are then driven into the board to be lifted by a screw-hammer to secure a firm purchase. 1975 R. A. Salaman Dict. Tools 530/2 This smith-made example was sometimes called a ‘Screw Hammer’ because the upper jaw of the Wrench was made in the form of a Hammer and could be used as such.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 87/1 Two *screw hookes (or Boate hookes with screws). 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Screw-hook (Surgical), an instrument for withdrawing foreign bodies from the ear or nostrils.

1719 De Foe Crusoe iv. (Globe) 54 In the Carpenter's Stores I found.. a great *Skrew-Jack.

1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 680 Cast-iron water-pipes with *screw joints. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cochlearthrosis... Screw joint.

1850 Ogilvie, *Screw wrench or key. 1852 Seidel Organ 28 The screw-key..is an invention of our own time. 1855 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Locks (1873) 134 A screw pin (being an exact counterpart of the key, which is a screw-key) is fitted to the lock plate. 1869 C. Knight Mechanician 16 Screw keys..have screwed ends, for the convenience of having a nut to prevent the key slipping back..while in use.

1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Screw-lines, spirals in phyllotaxis.

1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2037/4 A black-brown Gelding.., with a *Screw-lock on his near Foot before.

1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 108/2 The ingenious *screw-machine which was invented by Mr. Hunter..consists of one convex screw which works in the interior of another convex screw. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 115/2 Standard Screw Machine for attaching the soles of boots and shoes with screws instead of rivets. 1885 J. B. Leno Boot & Shoemaking xxiii. 189.

1856 C. Nordhoff Merchant Vessel iv. 38 A lighter-load of cotton came down, and with it, a stevedore and several gangs of the *screw men, whose business it is to load cotton-ships. 1950 Blesh & Janis They all played Ragtime ii. 39 The fellows who put bales in place were screwmen.

1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xi. 199 Another sort of Mandrel is called the *Screw-Mandrel. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 612 The screw-mandrel or traversing mandrel.

1798 S. Shaw Staffordsh. I. 109/1 The brook..turned a corn mill, which was converted into a *screw mill..about 1766.

1707 Wks. C'tess D'Anois (1715) 374 She would not change her flat Nose and her *skrew Mouth for all Gratiosa's Beauty.

1660 Fuller Mixt Comtempl. xxxiv. 51 *Screw-nailes, which had holes prepared for their reception. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 199 The wood screw, or, as it is sometimes called.., the screw nail.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 39 The pin by which the spirals of a *screw nut are formed, is called a tap.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 435/1 A *Screw Pelican,..a kinde of pincers to draw out the..grinding teeth withall.

1840 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 182/2 The foundation of the building is formed of seven *screw piles.

1893 Kipling Many Invent. 6 Dowse was in charge of a *screw-pile Light called the Wurlee Light.

1840 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 181/2 The *screw-piled pillars.

1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. i. 7 The *Screw-plate is a plate of Steel..with several holes in it, each less than other. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 232 Screw a piece of steel of the desired size in an ordinary right-handed screw plate.

1722 A. Boyer Hist. Q. Anne 480 Which pretended *Screw-Plot, (as it was afterwards called) many of the Tories..were ready enough to charge upon the Whigs.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 371/1 He beareth Gules, a Stationers, or Book-Binders *Screw-press, Or. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 23 note, The device on its title-page of the press-man at work on the screw-press of the day. 1839 *Screw propeller [see propeller 3].

1776 G. Semple Building in Water 42 [The water] that soaked from the Bed of the River..we conveyed into the S.E. Corner for the *Screw-pump.

1798 Times 28 June 4/1 The very neat and excellent Household Furniture, Plate, China, a capital *Screw Range, a Copper, and other Effects.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 388/1 A Flote, or *Screw-Rasp..is three Square, smooth on one side, and toothed like a Saw on the other two.

1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 118 Gynne rope with an hoke of iren..j, *Skrew rope.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Screw-rudder, an application of the screw to purposes of steering, instead of a rudder.

1882 W. J. Christy Joints 102 *Screw Shackle Joint. This..is used by the carpenter with tie-rods. Ibid. 126 Coupling Joint... Amongst builders it usually takes the form of a hinge, union, screw shackle [etc.].

1852 J. Bourne Screw Propeller x. 216 The bearings of the *screw shaft are of cast iron. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 787 These gills are supported and traversed by their extremities, taken into the threads of two screw shafts. 1869 C. Knight Mechanician 386 The screw-shafts of a pair of engines properly include the crank-shaft, all the intermediate shafts, and the propeller-shaft.

Ibid. 120 *Screw spanners..may be made to fit nuts and heads of several different diameters.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Screw-spike, a round spike having a shallow screw-thread cut on a portion of its stem. It is driven partly home and screwed the remaining distance.

1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 605 These *screw stocks were found to cut very rapidly.

1729 Woodward Catal. Eng. Fossils ii. 102 This is one of those Bodies that are call'd, tho' improperly, *Screw-Stones. From a Lead-Mine near Worksworth, in the Peak, Derbyshire. 1829 J. Phillips Geol. Yorksh. 109 The screw-stones which are casts in the central hollow of crinoidal columns.

1894 R. B. Lee Hist. & Descr. Mod. Dogs (Non-Sporting) ix. 239 The *screw tails, which are so peculiar to the [bulldog] breed, are objected to by a few authorities as indicating excessive in-breeding. 1965 Johnson & Galin Compl. Bk. Dogs (1968) vi. 255 If your dog has a screw or twisted tail..he may suffer from infection or sores under the skin.

1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 31 The *screw-tap, that makes the Screw in the Nut. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 14 Common taps do not answer, and the best screw taps..must be used.

1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 353 *Screw Threads, the parts which are left standing between the spiral grooves of the screw. 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 271 The rocking motion of the bars is accomplished by what is vulgarly called a drunken screw-thread. 1817 Schellen Spectrum Anal. §25. 88 In order to measure accurately the amount of motion the value of a screw-thread must be ascertained.

1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 370 *Screw Tools are employed in cutting of screws of various sizes of threads.

1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 591 The cutter [sc. tap] is then called a hob, or a *screw-tool cutter.

1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 195 Large size pocket flask with collapsion cup, cover *screw top. Ibid., Screw top, satin engraved pocket flask. 1907 E. Nesbit Enchanted Castle xi. 314 A beer bottle with a screw top. 1937 G. Greene 19 Stories (1947) 59 There's a bottle in my pocket. Have a drink... It has a screw top. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 335/2 Boil the angelica..dry off..store in screw-top jars.

1963 Times 3 June 11/6 Make a French dressing with oil, tarragon-flavoured wine vinegar, dry mustard, salt and pepper and a pinch of castor sugar and pour into a *screw-topped container. 1972 Screw-topped [see marble-stoppered s.v. marble n. 8 c].

1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 208 So that a *screw-turner will only operate upon the screws in one direction.

1705 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2140 Which not only separateth the fibres of the Iron..but also changeth their situation from Longways to *Skrew-ways.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Screw-well, a hollow trunk over the screw of a steamer, for allowing the propeller to be disconnected and lifted.

1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 428 The *screw-wheel to act in the worm.

1731 Medley tr. Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 126 The horns of the Hottentot hart..run up twisting, *screw-wise, to about half their length. 1884 Leisure Hour Feb. 84/2 The screw-pine..with long prickly leaves set screw-wise.

1879 Investigation of Diseases of Swine (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 208 Ticks, *screw-worm, and the large horse or cow fly have destroyed many animals. a 1892 G. H. Kingsley Sport & Travel v. (1900) 120 Wherever we stopped in the woods we could hear the queer creaking rasp of the big boring grub which they call the screw-worm. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 704 To the larva of the latter [Sarcophaga Georgina] the term ‘screw worm’ has been applied. 1936 E. Caldwell in New Yorker 22 Aug. 22/1 He hated weeds worse than he did boll weevils or screwworms. 1955 Sci. Amer. Oct. 50/3 The screwworm is a major pest of cattle in the U.S. Southeast. 1973 Nature 20 Apr. 494/1 The formidable task of re-eradicating the screw worm from the United States.

1908 V. L. Kellogg Amer. Insects 344 A flesh-fly of serious importance is the terrible *screw-worm fly,..which lays its eggs on flesh..and often in the nasal passages of domestic animals and human beings. 1955 Sci. News Let. 29 Jan. 78/1 The screwworm fly may be eradicated from Florida and controlled in Texas, where its maggots cause millions of dollars loss to livestock men each year. 1978 Nature 22 June 606/2 The well publicised eradication of the screw-worm fly from Florida.

1850 Amer. Agriculturist Sept. 285/2 Adjustable *Screw Wrench.—This is just about one of the most useful little farming tools ever purchased. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Screw-wrench, a turn-screw; a bed-wrench. 1866 Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 571/2 Screw-wrench, a tool used for grasping the flat sides of the heads of large screws.

    b. In names of plants, as screw-bean, -mezquit, -moss (see quots.); screw-palm, -pine, any of the plants belonging to the N.O. Pandanaceæ (see quot. 1836); also attrib.; screw-stem, a plant of the N. American genus Bartonia (or Centaurella); screw-tree (see quot.).

1866 Treas. Bot. 930/1 Prosopis pubescens,..is the *Screw⁓bean or *Screw Mezquit of the Americans..and is so called from the screw-like form of its pods. 1869 C. C. Parry in W. A. Bell New Tracks N. Amer. II. 289 In the river bottoms we meet with luxuriant growths of mezquit and ‘screw-bean’.

1817 Purton Brit. Plants II. 540 Tortula. *Screw-moss. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 309 The common or Wall Screw-moss.

1851 E. Forbes Veg. World i. in Art Jrnl. Illustr. Catal., Hats, made of the leaves of *screw⁓palms.

1836 Buckland Geol. & Min. (1837) I. 503 The Pandaneæ, or *Screw-Pines..abound in the Indian Archipelago... Their aspect is that of gigantic Pine apple plants having arborescent stems. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 687 Pandanaceæ.—The Screw-pine Order. 1873 Drury Usef. Plants India 325 Pandanus odoratissimus... Fragrant Screw-pine. 1902 A. Alcock Nat. in Indian Seas 58 Scenery, which consists chiefly of slimy creeks and screw⁓pine swamps.

1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 454 Centaurella autumnalis... *Screw-stem.

1756 P. Browne Jamaica 330 The *Screw Tree. [Helicteres Jamaicensis, Jacq.] This curious shrub is very frequent in the low gravelly hills.

▪ II. screw, n.²
    (skruː)
    Also 7, 9 scrow.
    [Prob. of Fr. origin: cf. F. escrouelle (Cotgr.), now écrouelle, of the same meaning.]
    A small crustacean of either of the genera Gammarus and Niphargus; a river-shrimp.

1684 R. Sibbald Scotia Illustr. II. vii. x. 34 Squilla, nostratibus the Scrow. 1808 Jamieson, Scrow, the name given most commonly to the minute cancri observed in pools and springs,..also occasionally applied to some of the aquatic larvae of flies and beetles. 1834 J. Wilson Let. 27 June, in J. Hamilton Mem. v. (1859) 186 We found their interior crammed full of screws, or fresh-water shrimps. 1846 Brockett N.C. Words (ed. 3), Scrows, the small shrimp-like insect found in fresh-water pools. 1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 52 Gammarus fluviatilis. The Freshwater Screw. 1857 ― Brit. Crustacea 182 Gammara locusta, Common Coast Screw. Ibid. 187 Niphargus aquilex... The Well Screw.

▪ III. screw, n.³ Orkney and Shetland.
    (skruː)
    Also scroo, skroo, skrew (see E.D.D.).
    [a. Norw. skrue, skruv, ON. scr{uacu}f.]
    A small stack (of corn, hay or straw).

1814 J. Shirreff Agric. Shetld. 155 Forty Linlithgow bolls are sometimes preserved in one of these piles, here called beaks or screws. 1897 Sir H. Maxwell Mem. Months 46 The slender ricks, locally called ‘screws’..shaped like pepper⁓castors.

▪ IV. screw, v.
    (skruː)
    Forms: 7 scrue, (screue), skrue, screwe, 7–8 skrew, 6– screw.
    [f. screw n.¹ Cf. Du. schroeven, G. schrauben, Icel. skr{uacu}fa, Sw. skrufva, Da. skrue.]
    I. To attach with a screw or screws.
    1. trans. To attach with an inserted screw or screws; hence fig., to fix firmly. to screw down, screw up: to close and secure with screws.

1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. ii. 44 Why should I write this downe, thats riueted, Screw'd to my memorie. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. xvi. 93 The best way to hold the Quadrant..is to skrew it with a Brass-Pin..to a Staff. 1669 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 559 The outward dores to have..locks to them well scrued on. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. i. ii. 25 If while our backs are turned an unlucky boy screws a piece of deal upon one of the leaves [of a table]. 1762 Gentl. Mag. Jan. 43 The coffin being skrewed down before she came. 1792 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Fire-arms (1859) I. 33 The trigger has a spring screwed to the frame. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 30 A square piece of wood,..being firmly screwed to the under side of the board. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. ii. vii. 183 Think of being screwed down in a coffin, and put into the cold ground. 1885 J. B. Leno Boot & Shoemaking xxiii. 189 The boot, instead of being nailed or riveted, is by this machine really screwed together. 1885 Law Rep. 15 Q.B.D. 359 A metal cap was put over the shaft and screwed to the bearer.

    II. To press, strain, or force with or as with a screw.
    2. a. To force, press, or strain, by or as by means of a screw; to compress or hold fast in or as in a vice. to screw up: to tighten by turning a screw. † Also, to torture with ‘the screws’.

1612 Woodall Surg. Mate (1639) 7 This Speculum serveth to screw open the mouth..for conveying nourishment. 1620 Swetnam Arrayned iv. ii. I. 3, You haue spoke to mutch alreadie, you damn'd Rogue But weele reward..you for't. Skrew his iawes. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 30 Screw the shank..in the Vice. 1680 Ibid. xii. 208 And screw your Work a little lightly up: Then..you may without more ado screw up your Work tight. 1820 Keats Hyperion ii. 25 Cœus, and Gyges..Were..Dungeon'd..and all their limbs Lock'd up like veins of metal, crampt and screw'd. 1902 Hasluck Bookbinding xi. 104 Screw the book into the press.

    b. transf. to screw in, screw up: to compress the waist of (a person) by tight-lacing.

1785 Holcroft Tales of Castle (ed. 2) I. 17 Ridiculous vanity made her bear..to be screwed up till she could scarcely breathe. 1815 Jane Austen Emma iii, The mistress of a school—not of a seminary..where young ladies for enormous pay might be screwed out of health and into vanity. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 107 The eldest girl..was screwed in, and poked out, to look like a woman.

    3. a. To stretch tight by turning a screw; esp. to increase the tension or pitch (of a musical string) by winding up the screws or keys. Chiefly with up. Often in figurative context.

1652 Benlowes Theoph. iii. xcviii, Love, to high Graces key skrues up low Natures Strings. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xii. (1674) 15 They break the strings by scruing them up too high. 1679 Dryden Troilus & Cr. Pref. b 1 b, For what melody can be made on that Instrument all whose strings are screw'd up at first to their utmost stretch, and to the same sound? 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. v, Being a lover of such kind of concord as arises from two such instruments being put in exact tune,—he would instantly have skrew'd up his to the same pitch. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 469 Screw not the chord too sharply lest it snap.

transf. 1831 O. W. Holmes My Aunt 30 They pinched her feet, they singed her hair, They screwed it up with pins.

absol. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. xii. 216 Agatho screwed a Note above Ela when he Decreed,..that the Popes Decrees should be received as if S. Peters mouth had confirmed them.

    b. fig. With object a person or his attributes.

1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 60 Lady. We faile? But screw your courage to the sticking place, And wee'le not fayle. 1615 Chapman Odyss. ix. 438 [He] occasion gaue For me to vse my wits; which to their height, I striu'd to skrew vp. 1617 Fletcher Valentinian ii. i, All your arts..screw to th' highest; For my main piece is now a-doing. 1646 Quarles Judgem. & Mercy i. Wks. (Grosart) I. 69/1 Let's skrue our pamper'd hearts a pitch beyond the reach of dull-browd sorrow. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xxi. clxx, The Voice, though scrued to appear Divine, seem'd something out of tune to Her. 1672–5 T. Comber Comp. Temple Pref. (1702) 6 When we need Variety and Novel Expressions to skrew us up into a Devotion. a 1677 [see peg n.1 2 a]. 1823 Examiner 272/2 The first series of calculations by which the Bourbon government was screwed up to undertake this awful..business. 1840 Tennyson Vision of Sin iv. vii, Let me screw thee up a peg: Let me loose thy tongue with wine. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 269 To screw up their exertions to an unnatural pitch. 1873 Tristram Moab v. 92, I had some difficulty in screwing my courage..to open an abscess. 1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll x, My love of life screwed to the topmost peg.

refl. 1841–44 Emerson Ess. vii. Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 100 He..must screw himself up to resolution. 1858 S. Brooks Gord. Knot xlvi. (1860) 348 Whether Earnshaw screwed himself up to assent to the terms that night, or [etc.]. 1868 C. Rossetti Let. in Life Anne Gilchrist (1887) 173, I am not certain that in any case I should have screwed myself up to accept it [sc. an invitation], as I am shy amongst strangers.

    c. With immaterial object; esp. to stretch, strain, force the meaning of (words).

1628 Prynne Censure Mr. Cozens 32 Those Prayers were published..in the very infancy of Reformation,..therefore our Author may not racke and scrue them to our Aged and noone-tide seasons of the Gospell. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 127 Matters being scrued up to this height. a 1658 Cleveland Poems (1659) 98 Since then the Heroes of the pen with mee Nere scrue the sense With difference, We all agree, agree. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 69 Let us screw our Enquiry a little further. 1698 Clark Scripture Justif. Ep., I have not first taken up a Notion and then screwed and wrested Scripture to countenance and confirm it. 1807 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 67 The British commissioners appear to have screwed every article [of a treaty] as far as it would bear. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 213 Or, rigidly screwing up right into wrong, did they convert a legal claim into a vexatious extortion? 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 215 This may be done..by jurisprudential construction, screwing up misdemeanours into felonies.

    d. to screw up: to raise (a payment, rent, etc.) to an exacting or extortionate figure.

1631 W. Bradford Hist. Plymouth Plant. (1896) 357 He scrued vp his poore old father in laws accounte to aboue 200li and brought it on y⊇ generall accounte. 1654 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 126 He is now only bussy to scrue up his pension by Lord Percy,..and he hath gott an order to be this day paid two pounds. 1696 in Home Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm., 1902) 270 When wee got 2 secretaries the admission of Writers was scrued up to 800 merks. 1697 Vanbrugh æsop iv. ii, I screw up their rents till they break and run away. 1725 Swift Drapier's Let. vii. Wks. 1824 VII. 40 The rents of Ireland,..have been of late so enormously raised and screwed up. 1838 Lytton Alice i. vii, While some of my tenants appear to pay nominal rents..others are screwed up higher than any man's in the country. 1883 Fortn. Rev. Nov. 676 Screw up your rents as your neighbours are doing.

    4. To operate or adjust (an instrument) by turning its screw.

1708 J. Philips Cider ii. 100 When the Press, by utmost Vigour screw'd, Has drain'd the pulpous Mass. 1795 Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 140 Whilst the instrument was screwing to its focus. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 158 The surgeon always screws the tourniquet till he suppresses the pulse in the lower part of the limb. 1837 Browning Strafford i. i, How that man taught Tyranny..To ply the scourge yet screw the gag so close That strangled agony bleeds mute to death. 1902 Hasluck Bookbinding iv. 52 The standing press..is screwed down tightly.

    5. To extort by pressure. a. To force or draw out (information, a secret, the truth, etc.) from a person by moral pressure; to draw out by close questioning; to force the admission of.
    In quot. 1715 lit. to force out by applying the thumbscrew.

1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 65 A certaine friend of his,..told him..that euery one might scrue what he would from me, and draw all those secrets from me. 1632 B. Jonson Magn. Lady i. vii, Int. Hee Will screw you out a Secret from a Statist—. Com. So easie, as some Cobler wormes a Dog. 1650 Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Wars v. 137 Was any of his Ministers of State so dull-brained,..to suffer these mysterious parts of Government to be scrued out of his mouth or hands? 1699 W. Clagett 17 Serm. 370 The court by multiplying questions may screw out the truth at last. a 1715 Burnet Own Time xvi. (1900) II. 423 Upon what was screwed out of these two persons,..six or seven gentlemen of quality, were clapt up. 1794 Scott Let. 5 Sept. in Lockhart, He tried them on every side, and screwed out of them the evidence they were so anxious to conceal. 1818 ― Rob Roy xix, I screwed out of him these particulars.

    b. To force or exact (money) out of or from (an unwilling giver, a miserly or necessitous person); to get (something) out of (a person) by pressure.

1693 Humours Town 95 What they can in any way screw out of the Necessitous. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. 127 Finding not a Penny to be screw'd out of the Prig. 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. Levant I. 128 They made a thousand Scruples before they would let us see them [sc. Alum mines]; only to skrew a little Mony out of us. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. viii, They held..that their business..was to get as much from every boy as could by possibility be screwed out of him. 1878 Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 51 Cecil, not being able to screw it out of the Queen, had to pledge his own credit. 1882 Century Mag. XXIV. 785 The rate of taxation is simply the maximum that can be screwed out of the people.

    6. To put compulsion upon, to constrain, oppress. a. To oppress (a person, esp. a tenant) with exactions; also to screw down, to screw out of, to deprive of or dispossess of by extortion.

1658 Whole Duty Man ix. (1687) 90 Landlords, who..rack and skrew them beyond the worth of the thing. 1792 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 80 The system of laws which..had screwed the Roman Catholics out of their landed property. 1826 Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) II. 191 In order to see how the labourers are now screwed down, look at the following facts. 1838 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 225 They are so screwed by taxes,..that they never have a farthing in hand. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy li, ‘The lord’ had been screwed out of a good sum of money by way of separate maintenance. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxix, He quarrelled with his agents and screwed his tenants by letter.

    b. To force (a seller) to lower his price, to ‘beat down’.

1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 178 The severe customs..that some of the greatest Traders..use unto some of their own Trade, by scruing and pinching them in such things they sell them in their necessity. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) I. xix. 179 They should not stand and haggle and screw the shopkeeper down. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 294/2 They're fairish customers, but they often screw me. 1853 Lytton My Novel xii. vii, Why I am not sure that it is already bought—that is, paid for... Spend⁓quick complains that Levy screws him.

    c. To examine rigorously. Obs. exc. in U.S. College slang (see quot. 1851). Also absol.

1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. v. iii, And there hee sits like an old worme of the peace.., screwing, Examining, and committing the poore curres. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Boscq's Compl. Woman Pref., They examine all the conceits, they weigh all the words, they scrue all the syllables [orig. F. ils espluchent toutes les syllabes]. 1851 B. H. Hall College Words 265 Screw, to press with an excessive and unnecessarily minute examination. 1851 O. W. Holmes Song of ‘Twenty-nine’ 10 At last the day is ended, The tutor screws no more.

    d. slang (chiefly N. Amer.). To defraud (a person, esp. of money), to cheat; to deceive, to ‘rook’; freq. as pa. pple. in to be (or get) screwed.

1900 Dialect Notes II. 58 Screwed,..in phrase ‘to get screwed’..deceived. 1936 J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle vi. 94 ‘What you want to strike for?’ ‘'Cause we're gettin' screwed..the company's store is takin' five per cent house⁓cut.’ 1959 J. Osborne Paul Slickey i. v. 48 We want to screw, screw, screw the Income Tax Man. 1966 H. Kemelman Saturday Rabbi went Hungry xxxiii. 213 In the business dealings between Hirsh and Goralsky, it wasn't Goralsky that got screwed. It was the other way around. 1974 Saturday Night (Toronto) Feb. 12/3 Your chances of being screwed by a Canadian factory owner then were just as good as your chances of being screwed by an American factory owner now. 1979 Tucson Mag. Jan. 24/2 The Richard Nixon school of thought on public scandal, that being that it's all right to screw the people as long as you were given a large mandate in the previous election.

    7. To produce, attain, or elicit with an effort. Also with out, up, or complementary phrase.

1679 Alsop Melius Inq. ii. v. 325 All that can possibly be screwed out of these instances of Paternal Authority is no more than this. 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIII. 47 One of our Place-mongers..To serve a Premier and betray the Nation At length screwed out a situation. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Bergamo 54 Screwing a smile into his dinnerless face. a 1848 O. W. Holmes Nux Postc. 33 It's a vastly pleasing prospect, when you're screwing out a laugh, That your very next year's income is diminished by a half. 1859 Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) II. 106 If you could screw time to send me ever so brief an answer. 1869 J. Greenwood Seven Curses Lond. ix. 170 If I entrust my tailor with stuff for a suit, and it afterwards comes to my knowledge that he has ‘screwed’ an extra waistcoat out of it. 1874 Helps Soc. Pressure ii. 32 Another inventor screws light out of coals. 1898 J. B. Wollocombe Morn till Eve ii. 15 Gillard..saw his opponent in front of him, doing his utmost to screw up a trot.

    8. intr. To be parsimonious.

1849 Thackeray Let. 10 Apr., I must screw and save in order to pay off the money. 1855 ― Newcomes xliv, Did you ever hear of me screwing? No, I spend my money like a man.

    III. To turn a screw.
    9. trans. To work (a screw or something fashioned as a screw) by turning.

1635 Quarles Embl. i. Invoc., Rowze thee, my soul,..Skrue up the heightned pegs Of thy Sublime Theorboe foure notes higher. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 23 He resolvd to governe them by subalterne Ministers, who it seems scrud up the pinnes of power too high. 1648 Wilkins Math. Magic i. ix. 59 The chief inconvenience of this instrument is, that in a short space it will be screwed unto its full length. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 13 That a pin be screw'd so firm and hard, that though it has a convenient head to it, yet it can by no means be unscrew'd by the fingers. 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xii. 208 Screw your Pike wider or closer, according as the length of your Work requires. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 273/1 The Spanner..is put on the Nut heads and so to screw and unscrew them at pleasure. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 396 A series of posts driven or ‘screwed’ (with Mitchell's Archimedian screw) into the ground. 1869 C. Knight Mechanician 122 The simplest mode..consists in screwing a hard steel screwed plate on to the piece to be made into a screw. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 34/2 Their nuts [may be] kept tight by the simple process of screwing a second nut down home on the top of the first.

    10. a. To insert or fix one thing in, into, on, to, or upon another or two things together by a turning or twisting movement, one or both having the surface or part of it cut into a screw for the purpose.

1612 Woodall Surg. Mate, Enema Fumosum (1639) G 2, Put the pipe prepared into the fundament..with the first short pipe screwed to it. Ibid. G 2 b, The stopple to be screwed upon the head thereof. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 79 These trumpets are taken in two at the middle..; when they have a mind to sound, they skrew the two parts together. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 22/1 A pockett Inkhorne with..the penner or top screwed on it. 1774 Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 28 Screw the Ball firm in the Socket. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 371 Mackay..ordered all his bayonets to be so formed that they might be screwed upon the barrel without stopping it up. 1883 F. Campin Details of Mach. xi. 159 The bolt is screwed into some part of the cast-iron framework.

    b. fig. † (a) To implant firmly (a notion) by means of gradual insinuation; to contrive to insert. Also refl. to insinuate oneself by degrees (into a person's favour, etc.). Obs. (b) colloq. to have one's head screwed on right or the right way, and similar phrases, implying the ability to use one's brains to one's own advantage, or to ‘know what one is about’. to screw one's head on tight, to make an effort to prevent its being ‘turned’.

1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xliv. (1632) 414 That opinion was skrewed deeper into their fearefull conceit by a cloud appearing. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. 389 Others buy titles,..and by all meanes skrew themselues into ancient families. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 339 Thus by little and little, I went scruing my selfe into his seruice, getting more ground still vpon him. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 160 Howbeit a while after they got breath, and screwed into their good fauour and opinion King Cazell. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. ii. 5 Ill customs being not knockt, but insensibly scru'd into our Souls. 1674 Govt. Tongue ix. 157 No discourse can be administred, but..they [sc. Boasters] will..screw in here and there some intimations of what they did or said. 1667 Dryden & Dk. Newcastle Sir M. Mar-all ii. ii, You would do well to screw yourself into her father's good opinion. 1680 C. Nesse Church Hist. 47 He trys his skill by an intrinsick engine, screwing himself into the minds of Israel. 1821 P. Egan Life in London v. 278 A well-known dashing Prig, whose Head was considered to have been screwed on the right way. 1826 Scott Provinc. Antiq. 194 He had screwed himself into the partial confidence of Laird Bour. 1855 Burn Autobiog. Beggar-boy (1859) 95 It was true I had a small quantity of brains, but the fact was, my head was not screwed on right to enable me to turn them to my advantage. 1897 M. Creighton Let. Life & Lett. (1904) II. vii. 235, I feel it necessary to screw my head on tight and go my own way gently. 1900 Daily News 12 Dec. 7/5 Elizabeth has, to use a slang phrase, ‘her head very well screwed on’.

    c. intr. in passive sense. To be adapted for joining or taking apart by means of component screws.

1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xiv. 235 A Brass Coller with a Female Screw in it, to screw on the Mandrel. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 18 The Rods were in three Pieces..which screwed together occasionally. 1791 Gilpin Forest Scenery ii. 43 He carried with him a gun, which screwed into three parts, and which he could easily conceal in the lining of his coat. 1821 John Bull 18 June 215/1 The head [of the vessel] screws off at the middle of the neck. 1881 F. Campin Mech. Engin. iv. 53 The face-plate which screws on the mandrils.

    d. trans. to screw out: to take out (a screw) by turning; to unscrew. rare.

1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xviii. (1632) 904 Euill opinions once fastened in mens hearts, hardly can be screwed out againe. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 109/1 An apparatus for screwing the patterns..out of the mould, so as to leave the impression of the thread uninjured.

    11. intr. To penetrate as a screw; to penetrate with a winding course. In quots. fig., to worm one's way.

1614 C. Brooke Ghost Rich. III, xxxix, Proud of this Knowledge I scru'd into the state, And of that Nature got intelligence. 1627 P. Fletcher Locusts ii. xxviii, By flattery They [sc. the Jesuits] worme and scrue into their conscience. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 80 They have a way to scrue into the most inmost Closets of Princes. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 447 To scrue and dive into the hearts of men by degrees.

    IV. To move in a twisting direction.
    12. a. trans. To twist round, esp. to twist with violence so as to alter the shape. to screw one's neck: to kill by wringing the neck. to screw up: to twist (e.g. a piece of paper) into a spiral form.

a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 173 The Pillars on which arch'd Heav'ns rely, Were on their sev'ral Bases screw'd awry. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. viii, They all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way: screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. 1869 ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xxiv, Jack screwed his moustache,..in deep deliberation. 1872 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. Dec. 46/1 I'll screw his neck. 1888 F. Hume Madame Midas i. ii, I wish you'd screw that bird's neck, Slivers; he's too clever by half.

    b. To spoil, ruin; to pervert; to upset, disturb mentally. U.S. colloq.

1938 ‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts iv. 54 ‘For gossakes!’ yelled Lew, jumping up. ‘That screws everything!’ 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. v. 183 She got fed up with him screwing the Sunday roast, so she shot herself. 1968 Win 15 Oct. 4/1 Democracy has gotten screwed, not just in Chicago but long before that. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 1/2 Your parents' divorce can screw you all over. It did me. I was shocked.

    c. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.). to screw up: (a) intr., to blunder, make an error; (b) trans., to make a mess of, spoil, ruin; to confuse, upset, disturb mentally.
    This use may have originated as a euphemism for to fuck up (see fuck v. 3) after sense 13 below.

1942 Yank 23 Dec. 19 You screw up on the drill field! You goof off at inspection. 1943 M. Hart Winged Victory i. ix. 90 My father-in-law says the OPA is screwing everything up. 1946 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. Mar. 419 The common obscene expression which has the meaning in some way or another to bungle a job or to make a bad choice... There are a few acceptable substitutes such as ‘screw up’. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xix. 176 It really screws up my sex life something awful. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. v. 182 He's a drunk... He gets all screwed up with religion. 1967 Melody Maker 16 Dec. 8/6 Those people who are supposed to be propagating the Lord's word—they're screwing it all up. 1972 M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha 83 Did I screw up by admitting that you knew about the package? 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xviii. 382 He said that women's lib had screwed up his wife so much that she divorced him. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload i. i. 6 But you and your people really screwed up today! 1981 P. Niesewand Word of Gentleman xxvii. 188 Military men usually screw things up..and the people are bloody glad to see the back of them.

    13. coarse slang. a. intr. To copulate, have sexual intercourse (with a person). b. trans. Usu. of a man: to copulate with, have sexual intercourse with (someone).

1725 New Canting Dict., To Screw, to copulate with a Woman. 1796 F. Grose Class. Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3), To screw, to copulate. 1927 O. W. Holmes Let. 1 July in Holmes-Laski Lett. (1953) II. v. 958 It is enough to mention his emulating a spider by screwing a woman while he killed her by biting and, put in as an extra, chewing her throat. 1937 J. T. Farrell Can all this Grandeur Perish 147 Him..picking up bums in public dance halls and screwing them in hallways and taxicabs. 1945 G. Endore Methinks the Lady vi. 120 She thinks just because she married a sailor she can screw the whole Navy. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) iv. 66 The first thing we do is..to run a few signed stories in the book, instead of all that anonymous ‘I-got-screwed’ stuff. 1958 N. Levine Canada made Me 16 Those who cry the most saying goodbye, screw the first. 1963 T. Pynchon V. i. 10 Santa's bag is filled with all your dreams come true: Nickel beers that sparkle like champagne, Barmaids who all love to screw. 1968 Southerly XXVIII. 38 ‘We have a free relationship,’ Joe said. ‘She's gone off to screw some old friend.’ 1972 ‘G. Harding’ Skytrap iii. 48 You've spent the afternoon screwing with him, haven't you? 1975 D. Lodge Changing Places i. 7 All women longed to be screwed by a god, it was the source of all religion.

    c. In phr. to screw around (around adv. 5 a): to be sexually promiscuous, to ‘sleep around’; hence in weakened sense, to mess or fool about. orig. U.S.

1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath ii. 14 Goin' all over the world drinkin' and raisin' hell and screwin' around. 1950 H. E. Goldin et al. Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 186/2 Screw around,..to clown and play the fool, paying scant attention to business. ‘Don't you screw around when you're hustling (stealing) with me.’ 1964 New Statesman 17 Apr. 610/3 He drinks.., screws around, lives in debt, cannot get his work published. 1972 D. S. Viscott Making of Psychiatrist iii. 43 Her husband is screwing around and she feels abandoned. 1974 Times 1 Apr. 6/8 All right—I am going to get him over because I am not going to screw around with this thing. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant iv. 51 They're honest guys. They wouldn't screw around. 1981 T. Heald Murder at Moose Jaw vi. 67 I've been sort of screwing around a little... I don't want to upset my husband, but a girl only has one life.

    d. Used in imprecations and exclamations, as an equivalent to fuck v. 2.

1949 A. Miller Death of Salesman i. 61 ‘In the business world some of them think you're crazy.’.. ‘Screw the business world!’ 1960 R. Dahl Kiss, Kiss 298 ‘Don't shout. There might be keepers.’ ‘Screw the keepers!’ he cried. 1962 ‘E. McBain’ Like Love vii. 102 ‘You sore?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Screw you,’ Kling said. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload ii. v. 129 She was drowned out by a chorus of, ‘screw the profiteers!’ and ‘power belongs to the people!’

    14. a. To twist awry, contort (the features, body, mouth); to twist (one's head, oneself) round in order to look at something.

1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. v. i, Screw your face a t'one side thus, & Protest. 1612 Two Noble K. v. i. 117 The aged Crampe Had screw'd his square foote round, The Gout had knit his fingers into knots. 1635–56 Cowley Davideis iii. 55 Sometimes a violent laughter scru'd his face. 1645 Quarles Solomon's Recant. ii. Solil. ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 174/2 What pleasure is't, to skrue An Antick face and grimme. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode iv. iii, Oh how you'd..scrue your Face into a submissive Smile. a 1680 S. Butler Characters (1908) 134 He is always giving Aim to State Affairs, and believes by screwing of his Body he can make them shoot which Way he pleases. 1815 Scott Guy M. ii, Some grotesque habits of..screwing his visage while reciting his task, made poor Sampson the ridicule of all his school-companions. 1821 W. Irving Sk.-Bk. I. 74 (Rip van Winkle) The self-important man..screwed down the corners of his mouth, and shook his head. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ii, Screwing himself round to catch a glimpse in the glass of the waist buttons. 1881 Fenn Vicar's People xlvi, Setting his teeth, and screwing his mahogany-brown face into a state of rigid determination. 1889 F. Cowper Capt. of the Wight 304 From where Ralph stood, by screwing his head a little he could just see the top of the masts.

fig. 1647 C. Harvey School of Heart Poems (Grosart) 171 An heart..That's..screw'd aside with stubborne wilfulnesse, Is onely fit to be cast forth.

    b. to screw up: to contract the surrounding parts of (the mouth, eyes).

1743 Fielding Journey fr. this World i. ii, But that female spirit screwing up her mouth, answered, she wondered at the curiosity of some people. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xvi, Jo screws up his mouth into a whistle. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ii, Mr. Barker screwed up his eyes and put out his jaw.

    † c. To produce (a gesture) by contortions. Obs.

1635 Quarles Embl. i. x. 41 See how their curved bodies wreathe, and skrue Such antick shapes as Proteus never knew. Ibid. iv. iii. 193 My antick knees can turne upon the hinges Of Complement, and skrue a thousand Cringes.

    15. a. trans. To look at, watch (a person); spec., to eye (a person) before a fight. b. intr. To look. slang (orig. Austral.).

1919 [see screw n.1 18]. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 333 Screw..can also mean ‘to look’. (‘Screw over there’, ‘look over there’.) 1960 Guardian 29 Dec. 3/1 The accused..told them to stop ‘screwing’ him, which meant apparently to stop looking at him. 1964 New Statesman 10 Apr. 555/2 ‘No, no,’ the Mods in the dance hall shouted ‘screw..means to look you up and down.’ 1978 P. Marsh et al. Rules of Disorder iv. 104 You get someone screwing you (staring) or just standing there all cocky like.

    16. To propel by a spiral movement; to force or squeeze (one's body) by a tortuous movement into, through, etc. (a comparatively small space).

1635 Swan Spec. M. vi. §2 (1643) 201 They [springs] do (as it were) scrue themselves up to the convenientest place of breaking out. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. i. 2 A Silk thred [is] twisted and screwed through a small hole..and fastned with a small wooden pin. 1690 C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 109 If the subtle serpent can but see a hole..he will easily screw in his whole body. 1719 D'Urfey Pills I. 127 He screw'd himself under the Bed. 1812 Scott Fam. Lett. 2 Sept. (1894) I. 257 We are all screwed into the former farmhouse. 1835 [see screwer]. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 42 They have screwed themselves into the uncomfortable corners of a complex life. 1868 Pitt-Rivers Prim. Warfare II. 125 [The boomerang] is caused to rise by virtue of its rotation, screwing itself up in the air.

    17. intr. To wind spirally.

1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 55 They [sc. the shoots of the honeysuckle] coalesce for mutual support, the one screwing round the other to the right, the other to the left.

    18. Sporting. a. intr. Rowing. (See quot. 1898.)

1875 W. B. Woodgate Oars & Sculls viii. 68 Possibly..each man [sc. of a pair of oarsmen] may screw to match the other instinctively. 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 297/2 (Rowing) Screw, to swing the body from one side to the other during the stroke, instead of swinging straight backward and forward. If the man swings toward his oar during the stroke he is said to screw ‘into the boat’; if away from it ‘out of the boat’.

    b. trans. Rugby Football. To cause (the scrummage or one's opponents in a scrummage) to twist round by pushing in a body to the right or left. Also absol. (Said of either set of forwards composing a scrummage.)

1887 Shearman Athletics & Football 311 One team..cleverly ‘screwing’ the scrimmage and taking the ball out. 1889 H. Vassall Rugby Football 32 It is no use trying to screw as long as your opponents have command of the ball. You must then..devote your energies to stopping your opponents from screwing you. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 408/2 You must wheel to the side on which you can best screw off your adversaries, and then rush ahead with the ball. 1901 Scotsman 11 Mar. 4/8 The Englishmen screwed the first scrum in capital style.

    c. Games. To impart a screw or twist to (the ball); to cause to swerve. Also absol.

1839 Bentley's Miscell. VI. 348 Cue in hand,..chalking, screwing, and pocketing..after a most extraordinary fashion. 1881 Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 35 Screw, see Draw [i.e. to drive widely to the left hand]. 1887 Shearman Athletics & Football 350 The back knows..when he should kick true, or when he should ‘screw’.

    d. intr. (for refl.) Racing. Of a horse: To force his way through. Also trans. Of a rider: To force (a horse) over (an obstacle); to screw in, to force to the front at the finish of a race.

1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports §1658. 470 Others [sc. horses] however screw through, that is, they actually push themselves through these hedges. 1842 Lever J. Hinton viii, I have been trying a new horse in the Park, screwing him over all the fences. 1856 H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock 48 Alfred Day..screwing in Vivandière half a head in front of Butler.

    19. intr. Of Polar ice-floes: To ram together.

1901 [see screwing vbl. n.]. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 4 Sept. 9/2 At the 88th degree the ice screwed badly.

    20. To depart hastily, go away; to get out, push off. slang (orig. U.S.).

1896 Ade Artie iii. 26, ‘Look here,’ I says, ‘you screw right away from here.’ 1903 A. H. Lewis Boss ii. 18 ‘Screw out!’ cried he... ‘We don't want any of your talk!.. Put him out!’ 1912 ― Apaches of New York iv. 84 As I don't want no part of it, I screws out. 1947 Horizon Sept. 205 Come on, let's screw out of here and find something. 1974 D. Richards Coming of Winter i. 23 Now if you don't screw off out of here, I'll use the phone.

    V. In various uses from senses of the n.
    21. trans. To break into (a house, etc.) by means of a ‘screw’ or skeleton key. Also, more generally, to break into (a house, safe, etc.), to burgle.

1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. Mem. 1819 II. 204 To screw a place is to enter it by false keys. 1879 Macm. Mag. XL. 503/1 We went and screwed (broke into) his place, and got thirty-two quid. 1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago xxiv. 236 He was..King of High Mobsmen... He did no vulgar thievery: he never screwed a chat, nor claimed a peter. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 333 Screw, to break open houses and safes. 1953 H. Clevely Public Enemy xxvii. 219 You want to go inside for screwin' that ware'ouse. 1958 [see bung n.4]. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed x. 88 Yir a brave wee boay that'll screw three shoaps in the wan night.

    22. To furnish with a helical groove or ridge; † to rifle (a firearm) (obs.); to furnish (a screw-blank, pin, cylinder, etc.) with a thread or worm; to cut a screw-thread upon.

1635 A. Rotsipen in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Fire-arms (1859) I. 22 To rifle, cutt out, or screwe barrells as wyde or as clos or as deepe or as shallowe as shalbe required. 1680 R. H. Milit. Discipl. i. ii. 22 Carabins..whose Barrel..is screwed and rifled: that is to say, wrought and crevassed in the inside..in form of a Screw. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 145 The vice-pin intended to be screwed..is placed in the stock. 1869 C. Knight Mechanician 346 Screwed plugs..for screwing nuts to stated diameters. 1880 Daily Tel. 23 Dec., The breech part,..with the front end screwed for the purpose of uniting with the barrel.

absol. 1870 Amateur Mech. Workshop 46 It is of great importance when screwing..that the pin should be passed perpendicularly through the tool.

    23. intr. To travel on the water by means of a screw-propeller; also trans. in to screw its way.

1860 W. H. Russell Diary India I. vii. 94 We lay-to during the night, and now we are screwing up against the..current. 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 165 We screwed slowly along till we landed on the little jetty. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 1 Sept. 2/1 The boat rolled and screwed its way northward.

    24. trans. To make a screw of (a horse), to ‘crock’.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 102 Jedwood will see you far enough before he gives you another one in his place, if you screw him doing his work.

    VI. 25. The verb-stem in comb. a. with advs., as screw back (see quot.); screw-down a., adapted to be closed by screwing; screw-in, -on adjs., that may be attached by screwing into or on to something else; also as n.; b. with ns., as screw cannon (also screw-back cannon) Billiards, a cannon made by striking the ball very low down and so causing it to recoil from the object ball; screw kick, shot, stroke (in various games: see quots.), one that causes the ball to swerve; screw-smile nonce-wd., a forced smile.
    Most of these admit of being regarded as combinations of screw n.¹ II.

1884 W. Cook Billiards 12 *Screw Back, the same rotary motion [as that described under screw] causing the ball to run backwards after striking another ball.

1866 Pardon Billiard Bk. xi. 125 Another very good stroke is the Wide *Screw Canon... This may be made with a slow twist..from the baulk. 1873 Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 325 A screw-back cannon may here be made by playing a three-quarter ball on the red, without side, No. 2 strength.

1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. x. 54 Strong round-way *screw-down bib and stop cocks. 1889 Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. xi. 124 Their upper ends are fitted with screw-down valves.

1924 G. L. Mallory Let. 12 Apr. in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 (1925) 215 Pukka wooden tables with three-ply wooden tops and *screw-in legs. 1966 P. O'Donnell Sabre-Tooth iii. 41 Thin steel shafts made from short screw-in sections.

1976 Alyn & Deeside Observer 10 Dec. 3/2 A player can cost his club almost {pstlg}65 a season in boots alone! *Screw-ins [i.e. screw-in studs] cost about {pstlg}17, rubbers about {pstlg}14 and flats (training shoes) {pstlg}7.

1887 Shearman Athletics & Football 349 The back may turn the ball with a *screw kick.

1928 A. L. Matthison Stoving Finishes 54 A *screw-on cap for instance, involving the operations of stamp, screw and knurling machine, is easily withstood by a high grade coating lacquer. 1935 ‘G. Orwell’ Clergyman's Daughter i. 13 The communion bell had had a screw-on clapper, which had come loose. 1967 [see O.D. s.v. O 5 d]. 1979 Amat. Photographer 10 Jan. 74/1 Buy enough storage bottles, with screw-on caps, to accommodate all the liquids you use.

1887 Field 5 Nov. 714/1 [Assoc. Football] The Harrow captain..putting in a low *screw shot. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 254/1 It resembles the screw shot in billiards.

1879 Meredith Egoist xiii, The well-known *screw-smile of duty upholding weariness worn to inanition.

1897 Encycl. Sport I. 252/2 [Croquet] The chop, *screw, or stop stroke.

Oxford English Dictionary