screw : Idioms & Phrases

• something out of order, so that work is not done smoothly; as, there is a screw loose somewhere. H. Martineau.

Webster 1913

• noun a screw with a hexagonal hole in the head
  

WordNet

• an instrument, said to have been invented by Archimedes, for raising water, formed by winding a flexible tube round a cylinder in the form of a screw. When the screw is placed in an inclined position, and the lower end immersed in water, by causing the screw to revolve, the water is raised to the upper end.

Webster 1913

• See under Archimedes, Compound, Foot, etc.

Webster 1913

Bed" screw`

Definitions

1. (Naut.) A form of jack screw for lifting large bodies, and assisting in launching.
2. A long screw formerly used to fasten a bedpost to one of the adjacent side pieces.

Webster 1913

• noun a bottle opener that pulls corks
  corkscrew.
  

WordNet

• noun a threaded screw for machine parts; screws into a tapped hole
  

WordNet

• (Mech.), a screw having on the same axis two or more screws with different pitch (a differential screw), or running in different directions (a right and left screw).

Webster 1913

• a compound screw by which a motion is produced equal to the difference of the motions of the component screws.

Webster 1913

• 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.

Webster 1913

• . (Mech.) See under Screw.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone.

Webster 1913

• in lathes, a long screw employed to impart a regular motion to a tool rest or tool, or to the work.

Webster 1913

• a short cylindrical screw head, having a convex top.

Webster 1913

• an adjusting screw which forms a foot, and serves to give a machine or table a level standing on an uneven place.

Webster 1913

• a small jack for raising heavy timbers or weights; (Carp.) a screw clamp.

Webster 1913

Hind"ley"s screw`

Definitions

1. (Mech.) A screw cut on a solid whose sides are arcs of the periphery of a wheel into the teeth of which the screw is intended to work. It is named from the person who first used the form.

Webster 1913

• (Mech.), a differential screw, so named from the inventor. See under Differential.

Webster 1913

• a screw cut on an interior surface, as in a nut; a female screw.

Webster 1913

• noun a heavy woodscrew with a square or hexagonal head that is driven in with a wrench
  lag bolt.
  

WordNet

• an iron bolt with a square head, a sharp-edged thread, and a sharp point, adapted for screwing into wood; a screw for fastening lags.

Webster 1913

• (Mach.), the main longitudinal screw of a lathe, which gives the feed motion to the carriage.

Webster 1913

• a screw constructed to advance away from the observer, when turned, as in a nut, with a left-handed rotation. An ordinary wood screw is right-handed.

Webster 1913

• (Mach.), a screw for adjusting the distance between the stones in a grinding mill by raising or lowering the bridgetree.

Webster 1913

• noun a screw used either with a nut or with a tapped hole; slotted head can be driven by a screwdriver
  

WordNet

• a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into metal, in distinction from one which is designed especially to be screwed into wood.

Webster 1913

• (Mech.), a screw having threads upon its exterior which enter the grooves upon the inside of a corresponding nut or female screw.

Webster 1913

• noun screw made of metal
  

WordNet

• a screw with a graduated head used in some forms of micrometers.
• a screw with fine threads, used for the measurement of very small spaces.

Webster 1913

• noun East Indian shrub often cultivated for its hairy leaves and orange-red flowers
  Helicteres isora.
  

WordNet

• . See Endless screw, under Screw.

Webster 1913

• noun a screw with a special head having crossed slots
  

WordNet

• a screw having threads upon the opposite ends which wind in opposite directions.

Webster 1913

• a screw, the threads of which, like those of a common wood screw, wind spirally in such a direction that screw advances away from the observer when turned with a right-handed movement in a fixed nut.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), an amphipod crustacean (Lepidactylis arenarius), which burrows in the sandy seabeaches of Europe and America.

Webster 1913

• . See Shaft alley, under Shaft.

Webster 1913

• noun hand tool for boring holes
  auger; gimlet; wimble.
  

WordNet

• noun an orchid of the genus Spiranthes having tall erect densely flowered spiraling clusters of creamy white vanilla-scented flowers; widely distributed especially in low damp places of eastern and central North America
  Spiranthes cernua.
  

WordNet

• noun spirally twisted sweet pod of screwbean mesquite that is used for fodder or ground into meal for feed
  
• noun shrub or small tree of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico having spirally twisted pods
  screwbean; tornillo; Prosopis pubescens; screwbean mesquite.
  

WordNet

• . (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.

Webster 1913

• a bolt having a screw thread on its shank, in distinction from a key bolt. See 1st Bolt, 3.

Webster 1913

• a device, resembling a die, for cutting the thread on a wooden screw.

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• . See under Dock.

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• a marine engine for driving a screw propeller.

Webster 1913

• noun a woodscrew having its shank bent into a ring
  

WordNet

• . See Spiral gear, under Spiral.

Webster 1913

• noun screw-operated jack
  jackscrew.
  

WordNet

• . Same as Jackscrew.

Webster 1913

• noun a wrench for turning a screw
  

WordNet

• a wrench for turming a screw or nut; a spanner wrench.

Webster 1913

• noun a cigar-shaped log with rotary fins that measure the ship's speed
  taffrail log; patent log.
  

WordNet

• . (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.

Webster 1913

• noun any of various Old World tropical palmlike trees having huge prop roots and edible conelike fruits and leaves like pineapple leaves
  pandanus.
  

WordNet

• (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.

Webster 1913

• a device for cutting threads on small screws, consisting of a thin steel plate having a series of perforations with internal screws forming dies.

Webster 1913

• a press in which pressure is exerted by means of a screw.

Webster 1913

• noun a propeller with several angled blades that rotates to push against water or air
  screw.
  

WordNet

• a screw or spiral bladed wheel, used in the propulsion of steam vessels; also, a steam vessel propelled by a screw.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), a long, slender, spiral gastropod shell, especially of the genus Turritella and allied genera. See Turritella.

Webster 1913

• a steamship propelled by a screw.

Webster 1913

• (Paleon.), the fossil stem of an encrinite.

Webster 1913

• noun the raised helical rib going around a screw
  thread.
  

WordNet

• the spiral which forms a screw.

Webster 1913

• noun a tree or shrub of the genus Helicteres
  

WordNet

• (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.

Webster 1913

• verb make more intense
  heat up; hot up.
  
  • Emotions were screwed up
• verb make a mess of, destroy or ruin
  muck up; foul up; blow; botch up; botch; bollix; fumble; mishandle; bollocks; bumble; ball up; bobble; bollocks up; spoil; bollix up; fuck up; fluff; flub; bodge; muff; louse up; mess up; bungle.
  
  • I botched the dinner and we had to eat out
  • the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement
• verb screw or turn higher
  
• verb twist into a strained configuration
  
  • screw up one's face

WordNet

• a stop valve which is opened or closed by a screw.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), 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.

Webster 1913

• noun adjustable wrench that has one jaw that can be adjusted by turning a screw
  

WordNet

• . (a) A wrench for turning a screw. (b) A wrench with an adjustable jaw that is moved by a screw.

Webster 1913

Screw"-cut`ting adjective

Definitions

1. Adapted for forming a screw by cutting; as, a screw-cutting lathe.

Webster 1913

Screw"-driv`er noun

Definitions

1. A tool for turning screws so as to drive them into their place. It has a thin end which enters the nick in the head of the screw.

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite not behaving normally
  screwy.
  

WordNet

• noun family of woody plants of the order Pandanales including pandanus
  family Pandanaceae; Pandanaceae.
  

WordNet

• adjective satellite having a lid with a spiral groove
  

WordNet

• (Mach.), a screw, sometimes cupped or printed at one end, and screwed through one part, as of a machine, tightly upon another part, to prevent the one from slipping upon the other.

Webster 1913

• (Firearms), one of the screws by which the lock is secured to the side of a firearm stock.

Webster 1913

• (Mach.), an endless screw; a worm.

Webster 1913

• in deep well boring, an adjusting screw connecting the working beam with the rope carrying the tools, for lowering the tools as the drilling progresses.

Webster 1913

• noun Polynesian screw pine
  lauhala; Pandanus tectorius.
  

WordNet

• the screw of a screw press, as for pressing curd in making cheese. R.

Webster 1913

• to use pressure upon, as for the purpose of extortion; to coerce.

Webster 1913

• to subject to presure; to force.

Webster 1913

• to force in by turning or twisting.

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• to press out; to extort.

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• to force; to bring by violent pressure. Howell. (b) to damage by unskillful effort; to bungle; to botch; to mess up. (c) [intrans] to fail by unskillful effort, usu. causing unpleasant consequences.

Webster 1913

• a screw driver.

Webster 1913

• a steam vessel propelled by two screws, one on either side of the plane of the keel.

Webster 1913

Wa"ter screw`

Definitions

1. A screw propeller.

Webster 1913

• noun a threaded nut with winglike projections for thumb and forefinger leverage in turning
  butterfly nut; thumbnut; wing nut; wing-nut.
  

WordNet

• a metal screw formed with a sharp thread, and usually with a slotted head, for insertion in wood.
• a metal screw with a sharp thread of coarse pitch, adapted to holding fast in wood. See Illust. of Wood screw, under Wood.

Webster 1913