screwed adj.
1. drunk; occas. of drugs (see cite 2007).
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘Witches’ Frolic’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1840) 164: Alone it stood, while its fellows lay strew’d, / Like a four-bottle man in a company ‘screw’d,’ / Not firm on his legs. | |
| Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 408: Divers kind-hearted boys [...] in their simple language, bade her to be of good cheer, for she was ‘only a little screwed’. | |
| Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 85: By Jove, you must have been screwed! | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Apr. 47/1: Why is a Pench-Kuss like a man given to drink? Because he is constantly screwed? | |
| Bombay Gaz. 27 Dec. 7/3: The night was pitch dark; and the two gentlemen, pretty well screwed, as the slang goes. walked into the wrong gharries—the civilian into the Major's and the Major into the civilian’s. | |
| Hills & Plains I 108: Thoroughly ‘screwed’ as young Lound [...] was, the night Budlee, junior, won eight hundred rupees of him at écarté. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Journal (1931) 3 Dec. 266: Afterwards went to the ‘Fashion’ where Toby got very screwed. | |
| London Life 44: I’m blessed if my lord ain’t screwed already. | |
| Stray Leaves (1st ser.) 101: [H]e was wofully screwed, and just got off in time to escape being sent to the clink. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Nov. 12/1: Careful actors get their ‘screw,’ negligent ones get ‘screwed’ . | |
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 352: By that time the claret had gone round prety often; and without being screwed, we’d all had our tongues loosened a bit. | |
| My Secret Life (1966) II 352: We had more wine, and then we all were pretty well screwed. | |
| Dead Bird (Sydney) 10 May 6/2: The artiste is in receipt of a large salary [...] and it would seem as though the abundant ‘screw’ had tempted her to become ‘screwed’. | |
| ‘Last Term’ Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 276: King must ha’ been as screwed as an owl when he wrote it out. | |
| Punch 11 Apr. 258/4: First Convivial Party. I rec’lleckpictcherin Punsh where chap d’cided whether he wash shcrew’d or no if he could pronounsh wordsh ‘Bri’sh Conshtoosh’un’. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Oct. 1/1: Two rakish solicitors of Perth are, when screwed, no connoisseurs of champagne. | |
| Eddy 75: Got a bit screwed at the club. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 339: You never saw him anyway screwed but still and for all that she would not like him for a father. | |
| Coonardoo 305: He was well-screwed and in great form. | |
| (con. WWI) Flesh in Armour 167: Rodwell was screwed [...] you could tell best when a man was drunk whether he was a gentleman. | |
| Best of Myles (1968) 338: Drunk; jarred; [...] spiflicated; screwed; tight. | |
| ‘Now Die In It’ I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 54: The screwed shamus. | |
| Sl. U. | |
| Apples (2023) 30: The Virgin looked fuckin screwed to me. |
2. in senses of screw v. (2b)
(a) (also screwed over, scrod) cheated, deceived.
| Life of an Actor 271: ‘Why,’ replied Mug-Cutter, ‘those angels were screwed so tight by the manager of Scanty Corner, they were compelled to leave him’. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 43: I’ve been punched, kicked, screwed, defrauded, knocked down. | |
| letter 18 June in Charters II (1999) 208: He SHOULD be yr agent or you’ll be screwed on subsidiary rights later on. | |
| Campus Sl. Nov. 3: screwed – to get the worst end of a deal, to be taken advantage of. | |
| Maledicta III:1+2 55: Males in particular [...] who have been denied promotion, given low grades, received inadequate pay rises, been fired, jilted [...] etc. commonly relate that they have been screwed, fucked (royally), diddled, butt-fucked, fucked over and so on. | |
| College Sl. Dict. 🌐 scrod [MIT] to have been screwed over. | |
| Llama Parlour 41: Everybody’s pedlin’ their ass in this town [...] We’re all gettin’ screwed. | |
| Da Bomb 🌐 25: Screwed: [...] 3. Put in a bad position. You got screwed on that paper. | |
| Silver [ebook] ‘How did the workers fare?’ ‘Got screwed, as usual’. | |
| Joe Country [ebook] I just got screwed. Does that make me a member of your club? |
(b) in trouble.
| Sporting Times 8 Feb. 3/1: Now Victor and I have quarrelled as to which gets the more hopelessly screwed in France, the solider boy who draws a good number, or the one that picks a stumer. | |
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 58: screwed, p.p. used as adj. In phrase ‘to get screwed.’ 1. Deceived. 2. ‘Flunked’ in recitation or examination. | |
| (con. 1944) Naked and Dead 16: It was a cinch we were screwed. | |
| Junkie (1966) 123: You’re screwed right there. It’s eight years for selling this stuff. | |
| Essential Lenny Bruce 197: You’re screwed — there’s nothing to do. | |
| Tales of the City (1984) 12: If you can’t deal with your own sexuality, hon, you’re gonna get screwed but good in this town. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 199: I would have to make a computer check of all births on those dates, which might prove difficult and futile; for if Jane and Fat Dog were born outside L.A. County, I was screwed. | |
| Skin Tight 54: ‘So I’m screwed,’ Chemo said. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 108: I saw in the papers where the weatherman said there’d be rain early tomorrow. If he’s right we’ll be screwed. | |
| Stormy Weather 97: Somebody recognizes my face, we’re screwed. | |
| Guardian Rev. 1 Jan. 5: I’m screwed if I do, buggered if I don’t. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Out of Bounds (2017) 76: ‘Accessing his adoption records won’t affect his medical state.’ ‘So, I’m screwed?’. |
3. (Aus./US, also screwed out) worn out with hard work.
| ‘In the Droving Days’ Man from Snowy River (1902) 91: I noticed the poor old grey, / Weary and battered and screwed, of course. | |
| Erections, Ejaculations etc. 113: I was done ahead of time – baked, fucked, screwed-out, nothing left. |
In phrases
tipsy.
| Harry Lorrequer 19: Even he, it is said, never ventured on such an approximation to intimacy, until he was [...] ‘half screwed’. | |
| Lewis Arundel 336: He was more than half screwed when he left the dinner-table. |
1. (US) comprehensively defeated; suffering very great harm.
| Camino Real Block Sixteen: Had for a button! Stewed, screwed, and tattooed on the Camino Real! | |
| (con. early 1950s) Valhalla 232: They were, as Poke put it, ‘screwed, blued, and tattooed’. | |
| In the Life 6: I’ve been laid, relaid, and parlayed; screwed, blewed, and tattooed. | |
| Carlito’s Way 116: You try to do the right thing and you get screwed, blued and tatooed. | |
| Red, White and Blue 374: I was screwed, blued and tattooed. You know it, Wanchai? | |
| Brazzaville Beach 302: A phrase came into my head that John had learned in America: screwed, blued and tattooed. Yes, I thought, that’s what's happened to me, I’ve been screwed, blued and tattooed . | |
| Dixon Avenue 74: ‘You’re screwed, blued and tattooed.’ You are really out of luck. | |
| Mirage 259: We had better make damned sure we don’t get caught or we are screwed, blued and tattooed my man. |
2. (also screwed and tattooed) an excl. of delight.
| (con. 1940s) Do Not Go Gentle (1962) 260: The Army — I’ll be screwed and tatooed! |
1. in a mess, out of order, malfunctioning.
 | ed. note to Nov. letter in Evans & Skinner Jack the Ripper (2001) 253: [This letter's text and an illustration furnish what the writer calls a physical ‘description of me’; in the margin, at right angles to the description and illustration, is written the following:] this got screw up last time. | |
| Black Mask (1992) 205: An upstairs door found screwed up [...] thief gone and jewels with him. | |
| Kingdom of Swing 96: [T]he management of the band was not too efficient [. . .] and the thing got all screwed up eventually. | |
| 20 Jan. in Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 77: It was a completely screwed up mission. | |
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 34: The arrangements got all screwed up. | |
| City of Night 304: Screwed-up world without laws! | |
| Shaft 64: They were all caught in this whole screwed-up period of testing and rejecting authority. | |
| Patriot Game (1985) 39: The traffic’s pretty well screwed up here. | |
| Skull Session 463: Maybe the lines were screwed up in some way. | |
| ‘Screwed Up’ 🎵 Fuck you! Fuck you! I’m screwed up. |
2. in serious financial difficulties.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 217/2: Screwed up (Artisans’). Without money – can’t move. More emphatically – screwed up in a corner. |
3. (US) emotionally stimulated with alcohol, drunk.
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 55: I guess I must ha’ [...] got screwed up, and they put me to bunk. | |
| Valley of the Moon (1914) 208: An’ if Frank hadn’t ben screwed up with whisky he’d never a-done it. |
4. neurotic, very miserable, anxious.
| Gun for Sale (1973) 1: He turned into one of the tall grey houses and climbed the stairs, a sour bitter screwed-up figure. | |
| Cry Tough! 18: Hounding them [...] until they were both nuts with worry and so screwed up that they couldn’t think straight with watching each other. | |
| Dud Avocado (1960) 217: I wonder how I got so screwed up? | |
| Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 145: Look what happens when you go away, you get all screwed up and just sit in a hotel room listening to Bessie. | |
| (con. 1960s) Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 170: My belly and my mind were all screwed up. | |
| London Embassy 14: He’s mentally screwed up, he really is. | |
| Trainspotting 274: She’s pretty mad, like, screwed-up and tense. | |
| Fortress of Solitude 427: You’re just grateful, because you looked so screwed up before he fixed you. | |
| Headland [ebook] I think you’re really screwed up. |
5. absurd, improbable, unlikely.
| All Night Stand 65: Is there anything more screwed up than the idea of a kraut pimp? | |
| (con. 1966) Lords of Discipline 22: He’s got one of those screwed-up Charleston first names. |