screwed

English

Pronunciation
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːd

Etymology

From screw +‎ -ed.

  • The modern sense of screwed originates in the mid-1600s with a sense of to screw as a means of "exerting pressure or coercion", probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews).[1] It quickly gained a wider general sense of "in a bind; in unfortunate inescapable circumstances". When the verb screw gained a sexual connotation in the early 1700s,[2] it joined the long-lasting association of sexual imagery as a metaphor for domination, leading to screwed gaining synonyms like fucked and shagged. On a more general note, this is a prime example of the frequent tendency for verb participles to evolve into adjectives.
  • The sense meaning "intoxicated" is from the early 1800s, and is associated with the term screwy, and the idiom to have a screw loose.[1]

Adjective

screwed (comparative more screwed, superlative most screwed)

  1. (slang) fucked, beset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome; in imminent danger.
    They found out about our betrayal, so now we're screwed.
  2. (slang, Britain) intoxicated.
    • James Joyce, Dubliners
      Besides they were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane's pupils should see him under the influence […]

Usage notes

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
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See also

Usage notes

Because the sexual act as a metaphor for domination is a frequent association for the term 'screwed', it is potentially offensive in polite circles.

Verb

screwed

  1. simple past tense and past participle of screw
    He screwed the boards together tightly.
    I got screwed at the swap meet yesterday.
    • 1641, Richard Chambers (merchant), quoted in Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution: An Historical Treatise, Part II: The After-Growth of the Constitution, H.O. Houghton & Company (1889), p. 274,
      […] merchants are in no part of the world so screwed as in England. In Turkey, they have more encouragement.

References
  1. "screw (n.)" in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
  2. "screw (v.)" in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001

Anagrams
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