Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to cheat, to defraud; to drive a very hard bargain.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: To Screw one up, to exact upon one, or Squeeze one in a Bargain or Reckoning.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To screw one up; to exact upon one in a bargain or reckoning.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Dec. 9/3: One of the banks in Brisbane, well known for its liberality in the screwing up line [etc].
1886		R.L. Stevenson Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde 8: ‘Well, we screwed him up to a hundred pounds for the child’s family’.
1962		L. Davidson Rose of Tibet 298: He’s offered forty million escudo. It’s only half what the stuff is worth, but they have big risks. They’ve got to get it into Goa. And we can screw them up a bit .

2. to imprison [screw n.¹ (2)].

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 255: If I am ever screwed up within these walls, I hope you will not forget to call and see an old friend.
1929		D. Hammett Red Harvest (1965) 74: ‘Somebody dynamited the floor out of the can. [...] Noonan had ought to know he’d never keep that guy screwed up--not in this burg’.

3. to make trouble, to cause difficulties for.

1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend II 96: However what finally screwed up my stocking altogether gents, was their taking away my gas.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 216: He says that strike screwed us up good.
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 81: You screwed me up at what you thought would be your last opportunity.
1965		L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 11: Oh God, the movies really did screw us up.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 151: You won’t have to worry about this guy [...] screwing you up.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘The Second Time Around’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] She’ll screw you up, you mark my words.
1990		J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 247: I don’t want you screwin me up jist because you gone loopy over some little squeeze.
1999		Guardian Rev. 24 Sept. 3: He apologised [...] for getting addicted to hard drugs and screwing up the group.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 ‘What’s up, Dionne? Don’t you like being screwed the way you’ve screwed up all other mugs who’ve trusted you?’ she sneers.
2017		V. McDermid Insidious Intent (2018) 121: Most alcoholics [...] screwed up the lives of everybpody who cared about them.

4. to garrotte [SE screw up, to tighten].

1859		Matsell Vocabulum 77: screwing up Choking; garroting. ‘Screw up the bloke, and that will stop his blasted red rag from chanting beef,’ choke the man, and that will prevent him from crying ‘stop thief.’.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 419: Favouring me with a few practical illustrations of his manual dexterity in the performance of such delicate little operations as ‘cross-fanning,’ ‘screwing-up,’ and taking a letter from the inside breast-pocket of my coat.

5. (orig. US) to make a mess, to blunder badly.

1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 72: Well, this was the last time Tootsie Maltz would ever have to screw up the works for me.
1944		H. Brown Walk in Sun 28: If we hang around here any longer we’ll screw up the whole works.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 140: You’re screwing the works up pretty nicely.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 37: You’re about to do something to screw yourself up.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 47: His voice-box screwed up on him a ‘dime’ ago.
1978		R. De Christoforo Grease 91: You really did it this time, huh? [...] you not only screwed up with Sandy again, but you got yourself wired into team tryouts.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 73: ‘Can’t understand the fellow, screwing it up the way he did’.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 37: Along every step of the way there was ample opportunity to screw up royally.
1998		Source Oct. 154: If you vouch for a player and he or she screws up [...] you’re responsible.
2000		Guardian G2 20 Jan. 10: If no one takes responsibility for them, of course they are going to screw up.
2010		in K. Richards Life 285: ‘Stop sniveling, boy. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t screwed up’.
2014		Baltimore Sun (MD) 7 May T11/1: I screwed up.
2019		M. Herron Joe Country [ebook] Anton wasn’t thrilled to hear him explain how they’d screwed up.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 26: ‘I had some repeat offenders clean it yesterday, as a taste if they screw up again and go AWOL with one of your local ladies’.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 240: [They] were unable to see exactly how badly Kelly had screwed up his task.

6. (US) to confuse, to perturb.

1974		R. Blount Jr About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 116: ‘One of the things I think you have to do in coaching is not screw up people you’re working with’.
1988		(con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 156: That circus queen was sure one sick woman [...] she was out to screw your head up.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 218: ‘She was a screwed-up kid taking powerful meds in dangerous amounts’.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 244: The adolescents were just totally housed inappropriately. They screwed that whole age group up.

7. to hurt, to put out of order, to destroy.

1953		T. Williams Camino Real Block Twelve: This filing system is screwed up six ways from next Sunday ... File this crap under crap!
1960		G. Swarthout Where the Boys Are 191: If you think I’ll screw up the last two days of my vacation for a stunt as Boy Scout and yo-yo as this, you are stark raving.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 383: I used to like to run [...] but all that pounding up and down screwed up my back.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 31: Screwed up a shitload of computers, too.