screw

«screw» in Mova's school dictionary: A small pointed metal pin with a spiral ridge, turned… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a screw, screws); verb (screw, screws, screwed, screwing)

meaning for a pupil

1) A small pointed metal pin with a spiral ridge, turned with a screwdriver to hold things together. tree →

2) (verb) To fix something with screws, or to turn something round to fasten it: screw on the lid. tree →

3) (verb) To twist or squeeze into a shape: screw up your eyes, screw up the paper. tree →

4) Screw up (informal): to make a mess of something or make a big mistake. tree →

5) (slang, rude) Screwed: in deep trouble; «screw it» or «screw you» is a rude way to show anger. tree →

6) (verb, informal) To cheat someone out of money: we got screwed. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and technology lessons a screw is one of the simple machines, like a twisted ramp. In everyday life you screw lids on jars and bulbs into sockets. In real speech, «I screwed up» means I made a mistake; «we're screwed» means we are in trouble — informal and a bit rude. Phrases: screw up, screw on, a screw loose (joke: a bit mad), turn the screw.

examples

• Dad used four screws to fix the shelf. tree →
• Screw the lid on tightly. tree →
• She screwed up her eyes in the bright sun. tree →
• I screwed up the paper and threw it in the bin. tree →
• I totally screwed up my lines in the play. tree →
• (slang) If we miss the last bus, we're screwed. tree →
• Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey: turn the screw clockwise to tighten it. tree →
• Then her father took the bottle and the cork-screw into his hands. tree →

note

Screw up (informal) is fine with friends but not in formal writing; «screw you» is rude. Some uses of screw are vulgar slang; avoid them at school. A screwdriver is the tool. Most screws tighten clockwise.

In the corpora

• Suck a slice of lemon and your whole face screws up.
• "Has a screw loose" means is a bit mad or acts strangely.
• A screw is a ramp wrapped round a rod, and each turn moves it in a little way with a big push.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «screw» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.