Screw
[skruː] or [skru]
Definition
(noun.) a fastener with a tapered threaded shank and a slotted head.
(noun.) a propeller with several angled blades that rotates to push against water or air.
(noun.) a simple machine of the inclined-plane type consisting of a spirally threaded cylindrical rod that engages with a similarly threaded hole.
(verb.) tighten or fasten by means of screwing motions; 'Screw the bottle cap on'.
(verb.) cause to penetrate, as with a circular motion; 'drive in screws or bolts'.
(verb.) turn like a screw.
Checker: Merle--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A cylinder, or a cylindrical perforation, having a continuous rib, called the thread, winding round it spirally at a constant inclination, so as to leave a continuous spiral groove between one turn and the next, -- used chiefly for producing, when revolved, motion or pressure in the direction of its axis, by the sliding of the threads of the cylinder in the grooves between the threads of the perforation adapted to it, the former being distinguished as the external, or male screw, or, more usually the screw; the latter as the internal, or female screw, or, more usually, the nut.
(n.) Specifically, a kind of nail with a spiral thread and a head with a nick to receive the end of the screw-driver. Screws are much used to hold together pieces of wood or to fasten something; -- called also wood screws, and screw nails. See also Screw bolt, below.
(n.) Anything shaped or acting like a screw; esp., a form of wheel for propelling steam vessels. It is placed at the stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a screw. See Screw propeller, below.
(n.) A steam vesel propelled by a screw instead of wheels; a screw steamer; a propeller.
(n.) An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard.
(n.) An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
(n.) A small packet of tobacco.
(n.) An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and commonly of good appearance.
(n.) A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th Pitch, 10 (b)). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.
(n.) An amphipod crustacean; as, the skeleton screw (Caprella). See Sand screw, under Sand.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To force; to squeeze; to press, as by screws.
(v. t.) Hence: To practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions.
(v. t.) To twist; to distort; as, to screw his visage.
(v. t.) To examine rigidly, as a student; to subject to a severe examination.
(v. i.) To use violent mans in making exactions; to be oppressive or exacting.
(v. i.) To turn one's self uneasily with a twisting motion; as, he screws about in his chair.
Checked by Dick
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Miser, niggard, curmudgeon, skinflint, churl, codger, scrimp, hunks, lickpenny, muckworm, sordid wretch, mean fellow.
Checker: Wilmer
Definition
n. a cylinder with a spiral groove or ridge on either its outer or inner surface used as a fastening and as a mechanical power: a screw-propeller: a turn or twist to one side: a penny packet of tobacco put up in a paper twisted at both ends: a stingy fellow an extortioner a skinflint: a broken-winded horse: pressure: (U.S. slang) a professor who requires students to work hard: salary wages.—v.t. to apply a screw to: to press with a screw: to twist: to oppress by extortion: to force: to squeeze.—ns. Screw′-bolt a bolt threaded at one end for a nut; Screw′-cut′ter a hand-tool for cutting screws; Screw′-driv′er an instrument for driving or turning screw-nails.—adj. Screwed (slang) tipsy tight.—ns. Screw′-el′evator a dentist's instrument: a surgeon's instrument for forcing open the jaws; Screw′er.—adj. Screw′ing exacting: close.—ns. Screw′-jack (same as Jackscrew); Screw′-key a lever for turning the nut of a screw; Screw′-machine′ a machine for making screws; Screw′-nail a nail made in the form of a screw; Screw′-pile a pile forced into the ground and held there by a peculiar kind of screw at the lower extremity; Screw′-pine a plant of the tropical genus Pandanus or of the screw-pine family—from the screw-like arrangement of the clustered leaves; Screw′-plate a plate of steel in which are a graduated series of holes with internal screws used in forming external screws; Screw′-pod the screw-bean Screw′-press a press in which the force is applied by means of a screw; Screw′-propel′ler a screw or spiral-bladed wheel at the stern of steam-vessels for propelling them: a steamer so propelled; Screw′-rudd′er an application of the screw for the purpose of steering; Screw′-stair a spiral staircase: a hanging stair; Screw′-steam′er a steamer propelled by a screw; Screw′stone a wheelstone: a fossil screw; Screw′-thread the spiral ridge on the cylinder of a male screw or on the inner surface of a female screw; Screw′-valve a stop-cock opened and shut by means of a screw instead of a spigot; Screw′-ven′tilator a ventilating apparatus; Screw′-worm the larva of a blow-fly; Screw′-wrench a tool for grasping the flat sides of the heads of large screws.—adj. Screw′y exacting: close: worthless.—A screw loose something defective.
Inputed by Inez
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of seeing screws, denotes that tedious tasks must be performed, and peevishness in companions must be combated. It also denotes that you must be economical and painstaking.
Checked by Abram
Examples
- Obviously, as the cylinder was turned, the needle followed a spiral path whose pitch depended upon that of the feed screw. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The operator in Fig. 6 is shown assembling switch plugs and is in the act of driving home a screw which holds in place the fiber bar over which the cord bends. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- As a matter of fact, that screw was not used. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- This long screw would have transfixed it and drawn it up with a single pull. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- In charging the apparatus, the interior, A, is nearly filled with water, or other liquid, through the opening, _f_, which is then closed by cork, which is kept in its place by a screw nut. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Her engines are of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct acting inverted cylinder type. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- As she said it, Miss Wren suddenly broke off, screwed up her eyes and her chin, and looked prodigiously knowing. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The rifle grooves, however, were first made spiral or screwed by Koster, of Birmingham, about 1620, while straight grooves are said to have been in use as far back as 1498. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The metal casting of each page is very thin, and when required to be used, it is screwed on to blocks of wood to the same height as ordinary types. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- You'd have been screwed in gaol, Bute, if I had not kept your money. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- When the slate bed is laid, the slabs, doweled as the leaves of an extension dining table, are fitted together and screwed to the frame. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- He held the usual screwed bit of whitey-brown paper in his hand, from which he ever and again unscrewed a spare pinch of snuff. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- This IS luck, he declared; and she caught a twinkle of amused curiosity between his screwed-up lids. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He asks Lydgate all sorts of questions and then screws up his face while he hears the answers, as if they were pinching his toes. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It consisted of a large collection of bolts and screws which had been _cold-punched_, as well as of elevator and carrier chains, the links of which had been so punched. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- A lathe on which was formed wood screws is described in a work of Jacques Besson, published at Lyons, France, in 1582. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The engine, boiler, and twin screws are shown in Fig. 107. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The earliest, most successful demonstrations of screw propellers and paddle wheels in steam vessels in the century were the construction and use of a boat with twin screws by Col. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The practical method of securing the proper and ready adaptation of balances to springs is to place in the rims of the balance a number of small screws having relatively heavy heads. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Mr. Guppy screws his mouth into a silent No! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Boffin will get all the eagerer for waiting a bit,' says Silas, screwing up, as he stumps along, first his right eye, and then his left. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- There was a screwing and complaining sound down below, and their bent figures were strained, as if by a weight. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Young man, said Pumblechook, screwing his head at me in the old fashion, you air a going to Joseph. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
Typed by Doreen