screw up

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, especially by means of a screwdriver.

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 ).

British. a tapped or threaded hole.

something having a spiral form.

screw propeller.

Usually, screws. physical or mental coercion: The terrified debtor soon felt the gangster's screws.

a single turn of a screw.

a twist, turn, or twisting movement.

Chiefly British.

a little salt, sugar, tobacco, etc., carried in a twist of paper.

Slang. a mean, old, or worn-out horse; a horse from which one can obtain no further service.

Slang. a friend or employer from whom one can obtain no more money.

Slang. a miser.

10.

British Informal. salary; wages.

11.

Slang. a prison guard.

12.

Slang: Vulgar.

an act of coitus.

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 followed 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 followed 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 followed 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.

to waste time in foolish or frivolous activity: If you'd stop screwing around we could get this job done.

Vulgar. to engage in promiscuous sex.

30.

screw off, Slang.

to do nothing; loaf.

to leave; go away.

31.

screw up, Slang.

to ruin through bungling or stupidity: Somehow the engineers screwed up the entire construction project.

to make a botch of something; blunder.

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 Middle English scrwe, screw(e) (noun); compare Middle French escro(ue) nut, Middle Dutch schrûve, Middle High German schrûbe screw

Related forms

screw·a·ble, adjective

screw·er, noun

screw·less, adjective

screw·like, adjective

Synonyms
20. wring, wrest, force, exact, squeeze.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To screw up

00:10

Screw up is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

screw (skruː)

—n
1.	a device used for fastening materials together, consisting of a threaded and usually tapered shank that has a slotted head by which it may be rotated so as to cut its own thread as it bores through the material
2.	Also called: screw-bolt a threaded cylindrical rod that engages with a similarly threaded cylindrical hole; bolt
3.	a thread in a cylindrical hole corresponding with that on the bolt or screw with which it is designed to engage
4.	anything resembling a screw in shape or spiral form
5.	a twisting movement of or resembling that of a screw
6.	billiards, snooker Also called: screw-back
	a. a stroke in which the cue ball recoils or moves backward after striking the object ball, made by striking the cue ball below its centre
	b. the motion resulting from this stroke
7.	another name for propeller
8.	slang a prison guard
9.	slang (Brit) salary, wages, or earnings
10.	(Brit) a small amount of salt, tobacco, etc, in a twist of paper
11.	slang a person who is mean with money
12.	slang an old, unsound, or worthless horse
13.	slang (often plural) force or compulsion (esp in the phrase put the screws on)
14.	slang sexual intercourse
15.	informal have a screw loose to be insane
16.	slang turn the screw, tighten the screw to increase the pressure

—vb (often foll by up)
17.	(tr) to rotate (a screw or bolt) so as to drive it into or draw it out of a material
18.	(tr) to cut a screw thread in (a rod or hole) with a tap or die or on a lathe
19.	to turn or cause to turn in the manner of a screw
20.	(tr) to attach or fasten with a screw or screws
21.	informal (tr) to take advantage of; cheat
22.	to distort or contort: he screwed his face into a scowl
23.	Also: screw back to impart a screw to (a ball)
24.	(tr, often foll by from or out of) to coerce or force out of; extort
25.	slang to have sexual intercourse (with)
26.	slang (tr) to burgle
27.	informal have one's head screwed on, have one's head screwed on the right way to be wise or sensible

[C15: from French escroe, from Medieval Latin scrōfa screw, from Latin: sow, presumably because the thread of the screw is like the spiral of the sow's tail]

usage The use of this otherwise utilitarian word in a sexual sense, though recorded in an 18th century slang dictionary, does not appear to have really taken off until well into the 20th. Although a classic example of the anatomical metaphor for the sex act seen from the male point of view, it can be used as a transitive verb by women, which suggests that the metaphor is all but dead

'screwer

—n

'screwlike

—*adj*

screw up

—vb
1.	to twist out of shape or distort
2.	to summon up or call upon: to screw up one's courage
3.	informal (also intr) to mishandle or make a mess (of)
4.	informal (often passive) to cause to become very anxious, confused, or nervous: he is really screwed up about his exams

—n
5.	slang something mishandled or done badly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

screw

1404, from M.Fr. escroue "nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole," of uncertain etymology; not found in other Romanic languages. Perhaps via Gallo-Romance *scroba or W.Gmc. *scruva from V.L. scrobis "screw-head groove," in classical L. "ditch, trench," also "vagina" (Diez, though OED finds this "phonologically

impossible"). Kluge and others trace it to L. scrofa "breeding sow," perhaps based on the shape of a pig's penis (cf. Port. porca, Sp. perca "a female screw," from L. porca "sow"). A group of apparently cognate Gmc. words (M.L.G., M.Du. schruve, Du. schroef, Ger. Schraube, Swed. skrufva "screw") often are said to be Fr. loan-words. Sense of "means of pressure or coercion" is from 1648, probably in ref. to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews). Meaning "prison guard, warden" is 1812 in underworld slang, originally in reference to the key they carried. To have a screw loose "have a dangerous (usually mental) weakness" is recorded from 1810. Screwy (1820) originally meant "tipsy, slightly drunk;" sense of "crazy, ridiculous" first recorded 1887.

screw

"to twist (something) like a screw," 1599, from screw (n.). Slang meaning "to copulate" dates from at least 1725, on the notion of driving a screw into something. Meaning "a prostitute" also is attested from 1725. Slang meaning "an act of copulation" (n.) is recorded from

1929. First recorded 1949 in exclamations as a euphemism.

Slang Dictionary

screw definition

tv. & in.
to copulate [with] someone. (Very old. Usually objectionable.) : The sailor wanted to screw somebody bad.
tv. & in.
to cheat or deceive someone. : You can count on somebody screwing you at a traveling carnival.
n.
an act of copulation. (Usually objectionable.) : The sailor said he needed a good screw.
n.
a person with whom one can copulate. (Usually objectionable.) : His teeth are crooked and his hands are callused, but he's a good screw.
n.
a jailer. (Very old. Underworld.) : See if you can get the screw's attention.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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screw (so or sth) up definition

tv.
to interfere with someone or something; to mess up someone or something. : Try again and don't screw it up this time.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

screw up definition

in.
to mess up. : The waiter screwed up again.
n.
a mess; a blunder; utter confusion. (Usually screw-up. See also screwed up.) : This is the chef's screw-up, not mine.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

screw up

Muster or summon up; see pluck up one's courage.
Make a mess of an undertaking; also, make a mistake, as in I really screwed up this report, or She said she was sorry, admitting that she had screwed up. Some authorities believe this usage is a euphemism for fuck up. [Slang; c. 1940]
Injure, damage, as in I screwed up my back lifting all those heavy books. [Slang]
Make neurotic or anxious, as in Her family really screwed her up, but her therapist has helped her a lot. [Slang; mid-1900s]