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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








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"Screw up" Quotes from Famous Books



... pathetic in her eager enjoyment, something so fresh and unspoiled in that laughter of hers that one felt drawn to her. When she forgot to narrow her eyes, or to furrow her forehead, or to screw up her mouth, she was almost attractive, despite her freckles! Her eyes, of an agaty gray-green, were transparently honest. She had brushed the untidy mop of red hair, parted it in the middle, and wore it in a thick bright plait, tied with a black ribbon. She wore a simple middy blouse and a well-made ...
— The Purple Heights • Marie Conway Oemler

... And I saw him screw up his bright eyes, and glance through the open windows into the outer darkness, as though there was still a hope in his mind that we had not come down alone. I formed the impression that Levy had returned by a fairly late train himself, for he was in morning dress, in dusty boots, and there was an ...
— Mr. Justice Raffles • E. W. Hornung

... and screw up that dwarf's hand, for it has become so loose that it costs a fortune for ...
— Entertainments for Home, Church and School • Frederica Seeger

... Chapel, by a clergyman named Phillips Brooks. This was before the time, let me say in passing, when his sermons at Harvard were attended by crowds of undergraduates. Well, I stood staring at the notice, debating whether I should go, trying to screw up my courage; for I recognized clearly that such a step, if it were to be of any value, must mean a distinct departure from my present mode of life; and I recall thinking with a certain revulsion that ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... said, "nothing will. But would you not despise a man who could not screw up his courage to face ...
— With Edged Tools • Henry Seton Merriman

... to himself: "Lord, but this is a lark! I'll have to take another Scotch to screw up the edge of my nerve. Won't the boys laugh when they hear how I stirred the girls' frizzes! We'll have a little party here when they all get home. ...
— The Man on the Box • Harold MacGrath



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