[syn: cheat, chouse, shaft, screw, chicane, jockey]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Screw \Screw\ (skr[udd]), n. [OE. scrue, OF. escroue, escroe,
female screw, F. ['e]crou, L. scrobis a ditch, trench, in
LL., the hole made by swine in rooting; cf. D. schroef a
screw, G. schraube, Icel. skr[=u]fa.]
1. A cylinder, or a cylindrical perforation, having a
continuous rib, called the thread, winding round it
spirally at a constant inclination, so as to leave a
continuous spiral groove between one turn and the next, --
used chiefly for producing, when revolved, motion or
pressure in the direction of its axis, by the sliding of
the threads of the cylinder in the grooves between the
threads of the perforation adapted to it, the former being
distinguished as the external, or male screw, or, more
usually the screw; the latter as the internal, or female
screw, or, more usually, the nut.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The screw, as a mechanical power, is a modification of
the inclined plane, and may be regarded as a
right-angled triangle wrapped round a cylinder, the
hypotenuse of the marking the spiral thread of the
screw, its base equaling the circumference of the
cylinder, and its height the pitch of the thread.
[1913 Webster]
2. Specifically, a kind of nail with a spiral thread and a
head with a nick to receive the end of the screw-driver.
Screws are much used to hold together pieces of wood or to
fasten something; -- called also wood screws, and screw
nails. See also Screw bolt, below.
[1913 Webster]
3. Anything shaped or acting like a screw; esp., a form of
wheel for propelling steam vessels. It is placed at the
stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal
surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a
screw. See Screw propeller, below.
[1913 Webster]
4. A steam vesel propelled by a screw instead of wheels; a
screw steamer; a propeller.
[1913 Webster]
5. An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard.
--Thackeray.
[1913 Webster]
6. An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary
severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a
student by an instructor. [Cant, American Colleges]
[1913 Webster]
7. A small packet of tobacco. [Slang] --Mayhew.
[1913 Webster]
8. An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and
commonly of good appearance. --Ld. Lytton.
[1913 Webster]
9. (Math.) A straight line in space with which a definite
linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th
Pitch, 10
(b) ). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid
body, which may always be made to consist of a
rotation about an axis combined with a translation
parallel to that axis.
[1913 Webster]
10. (Zool.) An amphipod crustacean; as, the skeleton screw
(Caprella). See Sand screw, under Sand.
[1913 Webster]
Archimedes screw, Compound screw, Foot screw, etc. See
under Archimedes, Compound, Foot, etc.
A screw loose, something out of order, so that work is not
done smoothly; as, there is a screw loose somewhere. --H.
Martineau.
Endless screw, or perpetual screw, a screw used to give
motion to a toothed wheel by the action of its threads
between the teeth of the wheel; -- called also a worm.
Lag screw. See under Lag.
Micrometer screw, a screw with fine threads, used for the
measurement of very small spaces.
Right and left screw, a screw having threads upon the
opposite ends which wind in opposite directions.
Screw alley. See Shaft alley, under Shaft.
Screw bean. (Bot.)
(a) The curious spirally coiled pod of a leguminous tree
(Prosopis pubescens) growing from Texas to
California. It is used for fodder, and ground into
meal by the Indians.
(b) The tree itself. Its heavy hard wood is used for
fuel, for fencing, and for railroad ties.
Screw bolt, a bolt having a screw thread on its shank, in
distinction from a key bolt. See 1st Bolt, 3.
Screw box, a device, resembling a die, for cutting the
thread on a wooden screw.
Screw dock. See under Dock.
Screw engine, a marine engine for driving a screw
propeller.
Screw gear. See Spiral gear, under Spiral.
Screw jack. Same as Jackscrew.
Screw key, a wrench for turning a screw or nut; a spanner
wrench.
Screw machine.
(a) One of a series of machines employed in the
manufacture of wood screws.
(b) A machine tool resembling a lathe, having a number of
cutting tools that can be caused to act on the work
successively, for making screws and other turned
pieces from metal rods.
Screw pine (Bot.), any plant of the endogenous genus
Pandanus, of which there are about fifty species,
natives of tropical lands from Africa to Polynesia; --
named from the spiral arrangement of the pineapple-like
leaves.
Screw plate, a device for cutting threads on small screws,
consisting of a thin steel plate having a series of
perforations with internal screws forming dies.
Screw press, a press in which pressure is exerted by means
of a screw.
Screw propeller, a screw or spiral bladed wheel, used in
the propulsion of steam vessels; also, a steam vessel
propelled by a screw.
Screw shell (Zool.), a long, slender, spiral gastropod
shell, especially of the genus Turritella and allied
genera. See Turritella.
Screw steamer, a steamship propelled by a screw.
Screw thread, the spiral rib which forms a screw.
Screw stone (Paleon.), the fossil stem of an encrinite.
Screw tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Helicteres,
consisting of about thirty species of tropical shrubs,
with simple leaves and spirally twisted, five-celled
capsules; -- also called twisted-horn, and twisty.
Screw valve, a stop valve which is opened or closed by a
screw.
Screw worm (Zool.), the larva of an American fly
(Compsomyia macellaria), allied to the blowflies, which
sometimes deposits its eggs in the nostrils, or about
wounds, in man and other animals, with fatal results.
Screw wrench.
(a) A wrench for turning a screw.
(b) A wrench with an adjustable jaw that is moved by a
screw.
To put the screws on or To put the screw on, to use
pressure upon, as for the purpose of extortion; to coerce.
To put under the screw or To put under the screws, to
subject to pressure; to force.
Wood screw, a metal screw with a sharp thread of coarse
pitch, adapted to holding fast in wood. See Illust. of
Wood screw, under Wood.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Screw \Screw\ (skr[udd]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Screwed
(skr[udd]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Screwing.]
1. To turn, as a screw; to apply a screw to; to press,
fasten, or make firm, by means of a screw or screws; as,
to screw a lock on a door; to screw a press.
[1913 Webster]
2. To force; to squeeze; to press, as by screws.
[1913 Webster]
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Hence: To practice extortion upon; to oppress by
unreasonable or extortionate exactions.
[1913 Webster]
Our country landlords, by unmeasurable screwing and
racking their tenants, have already reduced the
miserable people to a worse condition than the
peasants in France. --swift.
[1913 Webster]
4. To twist; to distort; as, to screw his visage.
[1913 Webster]
He screwed his face into a hardened smile. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
5. To examine rigidly, as a student; to subject to a severe
examination. [Cant, American Colleges]
[1913 Webster]
To screw out, to press out; to extort.
To screw up,
(a) to force; to bring by violent pressure. --Howell.
(b) to damage by unskillful effort; to bungle; to botch;
to mess up; as, he screwed up the contract
negotiations, and we lost the deal.
(c) [intrans.] to fail by unskillful effort, usually
causing unpleasant consequences.
To screw in, to force in by turning or twisting.
Screw around,
(a) to act aimlessly or unproductively.
(b) to commit adultery; to be sexually promiscuous.
Screw around with, to operate or make changes on (a machine
or device) without expert knowledge; to fiddle with.
[Colloq.] . -->
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Screw \Screw\, v. i.
1. To use violent means in making exactions; to be oppressive
or exacting. --Howitt.
[1913 Webster]
2. To turn one's self uneasily with a twisting motion; as, he
screws about in his chair.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
screw
n 1: someone who guards prisoners [syn: prison guard,
jailer, jailor, gaoler, screw, turnkey]
2: a simple machine of the inclined-plane type consisting of a
spirally threaded cylindrical rod that engages with a
similarly threaded hole
3: a propeller with several angled blades that rotates to push
against water or air [syn: screw, screw propeller]
4: a fastener with a tapered threaded shank and a slotted head
5: slang for sexual intercourse [syn: fuck, fucking,
screw, screwing, ass, nooky, nookie, piece of
ass, piece of tail, roll in the hay, shag, shtup]
v 1: have sexual intercourse with; "This student sleeps with
everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve"; "Were you ever
intimate with this man?" [syn: sleep together, roll in
the hay, love, make out, make love, sleep with,
get laid, have sex, know, do it, be intimate,
have intercourse, have it away, have it off, screw,
fuck, jazz, eff, hump, lie with, bed, have a
go at it, bang, get it on, bonk]
2: turn like a screw
3: cause to penetrate, as with a circular motion; "drive in
screws or bolts" [syn: screw, drive in]
4: tighten or fasten by means of screwing motions; "Screw the
bottle cap on" [ant: unscrew]
5: defeat someone through trickery or deceit [syn: cheat,
chouse, shaft, screw, chicane, jockey]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
343 Moby Thesaurus words for "screw":
Procrustean bed, airscrew, anamorphism, anamorphosis,
apply pressure, articulate, ask, ask for, asymmetry, badger, ball,
batten, batten down, be intimate, beat, bed of Procrustes,
begrudge, beguile of, bend, bilk, blackmail, bleed, bleed white,
bollix up, bolt, boot, botch, buckle, bugger up, bull, bunco,
bungle, burn, butt, button, call for, call up, call upon,
challenge, cheat, chisel, chouse, chouse out of, circle, circulate,
circumrotate, circumvolute, cirrus, claim, clamor for, clasp,
cleat, clip, coerce, cog, cog the dice, cohabit, coil,
come together, commandant, commit adultery, compel, con, constrain,
contort, contortion, copulate, corkscrew, couple, cover, cozen,
crank, crib, crimp, crimple, crinkle, crook, crookedness, crumple,
cry for, curl, curlicue, custodian, deform, defraud, demand,
destroy, detorsion, deviation, diddle, disproportion, distort,
distortion, do, do in, do out of, dovetail, draw on, driver,
euchre, evolute, exact, exploit, extort, famish, fan, finagle,
flam, flee, fleece, flimflam, fly, fob, force, force from,
fornicate, frig, fuck, fuck up, fudge, gaoler, gnarl, go around,
go round, gouge, governor, grudge, guard, guardian, gull, gyp,
gyrate, gyre, hasp, have, have sex, have sexual relations, helix,
hinge, hitch, hocus, hocus-pocus, hold up, hook, imbalance,
impeller, impose, increase, indent, influence, insist, intort,
involute, iron heel, irregularity, issue an ultimatum, jailer, jam,
joint, keeper, kink, knot, lank, latch, lay, levy, levy blackmail,
lie with, live upon nothing, lock, lopsidedness, louse up,
make a demand, make it with, make love, make off, make out, mate,
meander, mishandle, mismanage, miter, mortise, mount, muddle,
mulct, nail, oblige, order, order up, overcharge, overprice,
overtax, pack the deal, paddle wheel, peg, pigeon, pin, pinch,
pinch pennies, pirouette, piston, pivot, place an order,
practice fraud upon, press, pressure, principal keeper,
prison guard, profiteer, prop, propellant, propeller, propulsor,
pry loose from, put in requisition, quirk, rabbet, rack, raise,
ream, rend, rend from, require, requisition, revolve, rimple,
ringlet, rip, rip from, rivet, roll, rook, rotate, rotor, round,
ruckle, ruin, rumple, run, scallop, scam, scamp, scamper, scant,
scarf, scarpines, scoot, scrape, screw propeller, screw up,
screwing, scrimp, scroll, scrunch, sell gold bricks, serpentine,
serve, service, sew, sexual intercourse, shake down, shave,
shortchange, skedaddle, skewer, skimp, skin, skip, sleep with,
slink, snake, snap, snatch from, soak, spare, spin, spiral, spring,
squeeze, stack the cards, staple, starve, stick, sting, stint,
stitch, strain, stretch, summon, surcharge, swindle, swing, swirl,
swivel, tack, take, take a dive, tap, tear from, tendril,
thimblerig, throw a fight, thumbscrew, toggle, torsion, tortuosity,
turbine, turn, turn a pirouette, turn around, turn awry,
turn round, turnkey, twin screws, twine, twirl, twist,
twist and turn, unsymmetry, victimize, volute, volution, vortex,
wamble, warden, warder, warn, warp, wedge, wheel, whirl, whorl,
wind, worm, wrench, wrench from, wrest, wring, wring from, wrinkle,
writhe, zipper
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
screw
n.
[MIT] A lose, usually in software. Especially used for user-visible
misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature. This use has become quite
widespread outside MIT.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
screw
(MIT) A failure, usually in software. Especially
used for user-visible misbehaviour caused by a bug or
misfeature. This use has become quite widespread outside
MIT.
[Jargon File]
(1994-12-01)