Home > Antonyms > Antonyms for screwed

Antonyms for screwed

Grammar : Verb
Spell : skrood
Phonetic Transcription : skrud

Definition of screwed

Origin :
  • "cylinder of wood or metal with a spiral ridge round it; hole in which a screw turns," c.1400, from Middle French escroue "nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole," of uncertain etymology; not found in other Romanic languages. Perhaps via Gallo-Romance *scroba or West Germanic *scruva from Vulgar Latin scrobis "screw-head groove," in classical Latin "ditch, trench," also "vagina" (Diez, though OED finds this "phonologically impossible").
  • Kluge, Watkins and others trace it to Latin scrofa "breeding sow," perhaps based on the shape of a pig's penis (cf. Portuguese porca, Spanish perca "a female screw," from Latin porca "sow"). Latin scrofa is literally "digger, rooter," from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). A group of apparently cognate Germanic words (Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schruve, Dutch schroef, German Schraube, Swedish skrufva "screw") are said to be French loan-words.
  • Sense of "means of pressure or coercion" is from 1640s, probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews). Meaning "prison guard, warden" is 1812 in underworld slang, originally in reference to the key they carried (screw as slang for "key" attested from 1795). Slang meaning "an act of copulation" is recorded from 1929 (meaning "a prostitute" is attested from 1725). To have a screw loose "have a dangerous (usually mental) weakness" is recorded from 1810.
  • verb twist in
  • verb twist, contort
  • verb pressure
Example sentences :
  • The boiler leaked at nearly every hole where a tap had been screwed into it.
  • Extract from : « Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884 » by Various
  • I had been thinking and thinking, and at last I screwed up my courage to answer his letter.
  • Extract from : « Quaint Courtships » by Various
  • Screwed the top on tight, which would make the connection, and then forgot the time.
  • Extract from : « The Secret Agent » by Joseph Conrad
  • Mr Flintwinch screwed this out of himself, unwillingly and rustily.
  • Extract from : « Little Dorrit » by Charles Dickens
  • So she screwed up her courage and returned to the side porch to get a lantern.
  • Extract from : « Pee-wee Harris » by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
  • Next the first cross-piece, as shown in Fig. 90 , is screwed in place.
  • Extract from : « Boys' Book of Model Boats » by Raymond Francis Yates
  • The first cross-piece is then screwed in place, as shown in Fig. 19.
  • Extract from : « Boys' Book of Model Boats » by Raymond Francis Yates
  • The rudder works in a bearing that is screwed to the stern piece.
  • Extract from : « Boys' Book of Model Boats » by Raymond Francis Yates
  • His face was screwed up into the expression Tresler had begun to recognize as a smile.
  • Extract from : « The Night Riders » by Ridgwell Cullum
  • He put his glass in his eye, screwed up the left side of his face, and looked at her.
  • Extract from : « The Christian » by Hall Caine

Synonyms for screwed

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019