a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, esp. by means of a screwdriver.
2.
a threaded cylindrical pin or rod with a head at one end, engaging a threaded hole and used either as a fastener or as a simple machine for applying power, as in a clamp, jack, etc. Compare bolt1(def. 3).
Usually, screws.physical or mental coercion: The terrified debtor soon felt the gangster's screws.
7.
a single turn of a screw.
8.
a twist, turn, or twisting movement.
9.
Chiefly British.
a.
a little salt, sugar, tobacco, etc., carried in a twist of paper.
b.
Slang. a mean, old, or worn-out horse; a horse from which one can obtain no further service.
c.
Slang. a friend or employer from whom one can obtain no more money.
d.
Slang. a miser.
10.
BritishInformal. salary; wages.
11.
Slang. a prison guard.
12.
Slang:Vulgar.
a.
an act of coitus.
b.
a person viewed as a sexual partner.
–verb (used with object)
13.
to fasten, tighten, force, press, stretch tight, etc., by or as if by means of a screw or device operated by a screw or helical threads.
14.
to operate or adjust by a screw, as a press.
15.
to attach with a screw or screws: to screw a bracket to a wall.
16.
to insert, fasten, undo, or work (a screw, bolt, nut, bottle top with a helical thread, etc.) by turning.
17.
to contort as by twisting; distort: Father screwed his face into a grimace of disgust.
18.
to cause to become sufficiently strong or intense (usually fol. by up): I screwed up my courage to ask for a raise.
19.
to coerce or threaten.
20.
to extract or extort.
21.
to force (a seller) to lower a price (often fol. by down).
22.
Slang. to cheat or take advantage of (someone).
23.
Slang:Vulgar. to have coitus with.
–verb (used without object)
24.
to turn as or like a screw.
25.
to be adapted for being connected, taken apart, opened, or closed by means of a screw or screws or parts with helical threads (usually fol. by on, together, or off): This top screws on easily.
26.
to turn or move with a twisting or rotating motion.
27.
to practice extortion.
28.
Slang:Vulgar. to have coitus.
—Verb phrases
29.
screw around, Slang.
a.
to waste time in foolish or frivolous activity: If you'd stop screwing around we could get this job done.
b.
Vulgar. to engage in promiscuous sex.
30.
screw off, Slang.
a.
to do nothing; loaf.
b.
to leave; go away.
31.
screw up, Slang.
a.
to ruin through bungling or stupidity: Somehow the engineers screwed up the entire construction project.
b.
to make a botch of something; blunder.
c.
to make confused, anxious, or neurotic.
—Idioms
32.
have a screw loose, Slang. to be eccentric or neurotic; have crazy ideas: You must have a screw loose to keep so many cats.
33.
put the screws on, to compel by exerting pressure on; use coercion on; force: They kept putting the screws on him for more money.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME scrwe, screw(e) (n.); cf. MF escro(ue) nut, MD schrûve, MHG schrûbe screw]
screw, simple machine consisting essentially of a solid cylinder, usually of metal, around which an inclined plane winds spirally, either clockwise or counterclockwise. It is used to fasten one object to another, to lift a heavy object, or to move an object by a precise amount. The ridge forming the inclined plane is called the thread; in cross section the ridge may be approximately triangular, square, or rounded. The vertical distance from any point on one thread to a corresponding point on the next successive thread is called the pitch. A thread can also be placed on the inner surface of a hollow cylinder. Two screws of the same pitch and diameter, one on the outer surface of a solid cylinder and the other on the inner surface of a hollow cylinder, can be arranged so that one may be driven spirally into the other, as in the common nut and bolt. The thread on the surface of the bolt is called the external, or male, screw; that on the inner surface of the nut, the internal, or female, screw. The common jackscrew used to lift automobiles, houses, and other heavy objects is an application of this principle. The internal screw is situated in the base, the external screw on a metal cylinder; at the top of the cylinder a lever or handle is fastened. As the handle is rotated, the external screw moves up the internal screw and the object placed on top of the jack is lifted. The mechanical advantage of the jackscrew, as of any other screw, is theoretically the ratio between the circumference through which the end of the handle moves and the pitch of the screw. Since, however, there is much friction in the operation of a screw, the amount of work put into this machine is much greater than the amount done and the efficiency is small. On the other hand, the small effort necessary to turn the handle, when compared to the enormous load raised, makes such a device of great value. The screw is often used for making delicate adjustments of tools and machines, e.g., in the micrometer screw and in the carburetor of the gasoline engine (for regulating the flow of gasoline). The self-tapping screw has notches in the first few threads that can cut female threads in a hollow cylinder. Wood and metal screws, the carpenter's and machinist's vise, the propeller of a boat or airplane, Archimedes' screw, and many other devices are applications of the screw.
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