Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Screw up   /skru əp/   Listen
verb
Screw  v. t.  (past & past part. screwed; pres. part. screwing)  
1.
To turn, as a screw; to apply a screw to; to press, fasten, or make firm, by means of a screw or screws; as, to screw a lock on a door; to screw a press.
2.
To force; to squeeze; to press, as by screws. "But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail."
3.
Hence: To practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions. "Our country landlords, by unmeasurable screwing and racking their tenants, have already reduced the miserable people to a worse condition than the peasants in France."
4.
To twist; to distort; as, to screw his visage. "He screwed his face into a hardened smile."
5.
To examine rigidly, as a student; to subject to a severe examination. (Cant, American Colleges)
To screw out, to press out; to extort.
To screw up,
(a)
to force; to bring by violent pressure.
(b)
to damage by unskillful effort; to bungle; to botch; to mess up; as, he screwed up the contract negotiations, and we lost the deal.
(c)
(intrans.) to fail by unskillful effort, usually causing unpleasant consequences.
To screw in, to force in by turning or twisting. Screw around,
(a)
to act aimlessly or unproductively.
(b)
to commit adultery; to be sexually promiscuous. Screw around with, to operate or make changes on (a machine or device) without expert knowledge; to fiddle with. (Colloq.). >






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Screw up" Quotes from Famous Books



... combination with the horizontal axis of the distribution valve and with the piston rod, g, considered as a vertical axis of rotation, forms a species of universal joint between the crank pin and the table, so that it can be put in place without adjustment by any workman, who only has to screw up the two screws, h, to fasten to the table the standard, E, and the piece, E', in which are screwed the pivots, e and e', which support the tank, and this all the rest ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887 • Various

... bottle of beer to his expense account, endures for a few moments the bawling above the scream of the piano of two Americans of Palestinian antecedents, admires some local hero, like "Baldy" for instance, who is credited with doing what Napoleon could not do, and floats on, perhaps to screw up his courage and venture into the thinly-clad Teatro Apolo. He who knows where to look, or was born under a lucky star, may even see on these merry evenings a big Marine from Bas Obispo or a burly soldier of the Tenth howling some joyful song with six or seven little "Spig" policemen climbing ...
— Zone Policeman 88 - A Close Range Study of the Panama Canal and its Workers • Harry A. Franck



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com