Talk:screw

What language are the words înşuruba, păcăli and şurub?
 * Looking at the page history, it appears they're Romanian. I've noted it in the article, but it would be nice if one of our Romanian-speakers could verify it. -- Ortonmc 22:17, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

expand definition
"A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a shank partially or completely threaded shank, sometimes with a threaded point, and a head used to both hold the top material and to drive the screw either directly into a soft material or into a prepared hole." Screws are often plastic, sometimes wood or other decorative material. Many 'bolts' are called screws. A screw drive is usually a threaded shaft. --Wikidity (talk) 00:48, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

Slang for sexual intercourse -> Etymology
I'm curious to know how this word became slang for sexual intercourse. I was checking here to get my answer; I guess I'll have to look somewhere else! :( In the meantime (and in case I can't find!), would someone be so kind as to tell me? Thanks in advance...

CielProfond 20:00, 24 December 2008 (UTC)


 * http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/173460
 * 7. slang.
 * a. trans. orig. U.S. To have sexual intercourse with.
 * Until the 20th century apparently always with a man as the subject of the verb.
 * 1719  Suffolk County Court Gen. Sessions Peace 7 Apr. (Mass. Arch. 8-13A, Reel 1451) 228   The sd. Mr. Boyd screwed Mr. Longs Maid of Charlestown.
 * 1847  Rep. Supreme Court Illinois 2 726   She slept with me one night before she was married, and I screwed her.
 * b. intr. To have sexual intercourse.
 * Apparently not attested in the 19th cent., and only recorded in dictionaries in the 18th cent.
 * [The use of screwing n.  in quot. ?1661   probably shows an isolated use in an extended figurative context, rather than implying earlier currency of this sense.]
 * [?1661  W. N. et al. Merry Drollery: 1st Pt. 139   Never went Wimble in timber more nimble With so little screwing and knocking on't in.]
 * 1725  New Canting Dict.   To Screw, to copulate with a Woman.
 * http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/173457
 * 18. coarse slang.
 * a. A woman with whom a person has sexual intercourse; a sexual partner; esp. (in earlier use) a prostitute.
 * 1725  New Canting Dict.   A screw, a Strumpet, a common Prostitute.
 * 1785  F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue   Screw, a female screw, a common prostitute.
 * b. An act of sexual intercourse, esp. of a hasty and casual nature. Also fig.
 * In quot. ?1841  perhaps punning on a screw of tobacco (see sense 20).
 * ?1841  Gentleman's Spicey Songster 43   One was a youth, turned twenty and two, He view'd her bird's eye, then call'd for a screw.
 * 1904  Lustful Mem. Young & Passionated Girl 47   I..was often urged by the boys to let them have just one screw, but remembering Mr. Brown's advice, I refused.
 * Lysdexia (talk) 22:07, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
 * b. An act of sexual intercourse, esp. of a hasty and casual nature. Also fig.
 * In quot. ?1841  perhaps punning on a screw of tobacco (see sense 20).
 * ?1841  Gentleman's Spicey Songster 43   One was a youth, turned twenty and two, He view'd her bird's eye, then call'd for a screw.
 * 1904  Lustful Mem. Young & Passionated Girl 47   I..was often urged by the boys to let them have just one screw, but remembering Mr. Brown's advice, I refused.
 * Lysdexia (talk) 22:07, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Lysdexia (talk) 22:07, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

This etymology uncertain, contested by Kluge. Internal Germanic, perhaps related to Greek "koryphe:

alternate usage / etymology
The (transitive verb) 'put the screws to' or 'tighten the screw on' someone, originally referred to use of a torture device called a "Thumbscrew", but now means to extort, force, or compel someone.--Wikidity (talk) 00:20, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

RFV discussion: May–October 2012
Rfv-senses:


 * 1)  To be angry.
 * 2)  To forget or not care about
 * Screw that!

The first one I've never heard of, so it would be something like "I am screwing" to mean "I am angry". The second one seems like a pure mistake. In screw that, the screwing doesn't refer to the person but to the object (screw the Mets, screw Manchester United, etc.). Mglovesfun (talk) 12:40, 15 May 2012 (UTC)


 * A books search for '"I screwed it" -"I screwed it up"' (i.e., everything with the phrase "I screwed it", but not "I screwed it up") found nothing at all that made sense as "I forgot it" or "I did not care about it". I think that can be simply deleted as a mistake. I didn't check all the 25,000 results for '"He screwed" -"he screwed up"', but in the first 20 pages, I found nothing. There is another sense of screw up we don't seem to have, which is a reflexive use meaning "work oneself up", as used in Lord of the Rings, here, and here. It's possible this is where the sense came from, but I think it's more likely to be nonsense based on a misunderstanding of "screw" as a swearword. Smurrayinchester (talk) 18:42, 19 May 2012 (UTC)


 * RFV-failed. - -sche (discuss) 21:05, 1 October 2012 (UTC)

nautical usage
The citation is rather old. Is the definition dated or actual? --Xoristzatziki (talk) 07:06, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Can a woman be the agent of the verb?
In high school I remember a girl asking "how many boys did *you* screw last night?" and being mocked for it as the other girl said that she clearly didnt know what the word meant. We dont currently say that the agent of the verb must be male. And I assume that it's one of those words where in the right context, any usage is allowable, since people are fond of creative uses. I want to put a usage label like  (usually said of men) into the current definition for the sexual sense, for the benefit of young people and other  English language learners who might otherwise make an embarrassing mistake. But perhaps I'm out of touch and the usage is much more free these days. Thoughts? — Soap — 14:04, 15 June 2022 (UTC)