Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see separate entry.

see separate entry.

(US black) an upright act of sexual intercourse while slow-dancing.

c.1920s

in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 158: In Harlem [...] white women and their colored partners, or vice versa the colored women with their white partners danced by in passionate embrace (‘still-screw’ they called it), while practically standing still on the dance floor, going through all the motions of complete, tense fornication.

(Can.) an aluminium container holding three condoms.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1224: [...] since ca. 1920.

to have sexual intercourse with.

1941

in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 14: His wife said, ‘Oh, stuff / That philosophy guff / Up your ass, dear, and throw me a screw!’.

(Aus./UK prison) a female prison officer.

1958		B. Behan Borstal Boy 138: They were good sandwiches, and after the humiliation I had undergone from that old screwess, I might as well eat them.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 123: There are occasionally women prisoner officers, or ‘screwesses’ as some prisoners call them.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Screwess. Female prison officer.
2007		(ref. to 1986) C. Bronson Good Prison Guide [ebook] I recall about 1986/87 when female screws started to work in men’s prisons. It really was a big thing in those days to see a ‘screwess’.
2010		C. Bronson Up on the Roof [ebook] Anyway, there was a gorgeous screwess, and it turned out she was a sex change. It blew me away.

see separate entry.

a thief, a burglar.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 74: Mervyn Fraser [...] had come to be known among the boys as the screw-man’s day-dream. He was an insurance-assessor, and bent as Robin Hood’s bow.

1. a skilled house-breaker.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1845		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 1 Nov. 83/3: The man figured in London [...] as one of the leaders of the swell mob, and was considered as the best ‘screwsman’ and ‘fitter’ in the mteropolis, but was finally ‘served’ with a term in Botany Bay.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Screwsman, [...] a thief who makes and uses false keys.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 77: screwsman A burglar who works with keys, picks, dubs, bettys, etc., etc.
1869		‘Six Years in the Prisons of England’ in Temple Bar Mag. Mar. 543: I got to prigging pockets, and from that I got to be a ‘screwsman’.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 505: I asked a screwsman if he would lend me some screws because I had a place cut and dried.
1899		Newcastle Courant 18 Nov. 5/2: I’m tired o’ Rob Ryot the snidesman, screwsman, peter-claimer.
1904		Dubbo Liberal (NSW) 30 Jan. 3/4: There are two distinct types of burglar. One is the skilled and practised ‘cracksman’ or ‘screwsman’.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 263: When a screwsman’s got a job on, he daren’t go on the oil the night before.
1917		Blue Mountains Echo (NSW) 27 Apr. 3/6: ‘Cracksman’ is long out of date, - in the best circles of roguery they speak of a ‘yegg,’ a ‘second-storey man,’ or a ‘screwsman’ .
1924		S. Scott Human Side of Crook and Convict Life 154: It’s Arthur Comny, the L—— screwsman (burglar) in for 10 years and a ticket!
1930		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 9 Dec. 4/6: ‘Fence’ is the name given to receivers of stolen property, and, as the name implies, they have to ‘fence’ between the ‘screwsman’ (burglar) and the police.
1935		G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade 77: Why was it when anyone wanted a ‘gaff screwed’ they came to and got one of the Hoxton ‘screwsmen’ to do the ‘job’?
1943		J. Phelan Letters from the Big House 143: Both screwsmen, which is the technical way of saying burglars, they achieved almost orgiastic pleasure in watching.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 46: He used to be the best screwsman - cat burglar - in the business.
1959		‘Screwsman’s Lament’ in Encounter n.d. in Norman Norman’s London (1969) 67: We went round to my gaff, to get my turtle doves, / My stick, tools and glimmer, which every screwsman loves.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 50: For the screwsman it’s [i.e. discovery while working] sheer bad luck.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 172: One well-known screwsman has been noted [...] for his generosity.
1981		(con. c.1905) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 86: Georgie and his brother Billy were both screwsmen, both done time for it, pawnbrokers mostly.
2006		in D. Seabrook Jack of Jumps (2007) 47: Scotch Steve (‘I knew he was a screwsman’).

2. (UK prison) a warder, a turnkey.

1833		‘Lady Barrymore’s Lamentation in Quod’ in Convivialist in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 18: The traps, you know, and screwsmen too, / Have shrunk beneath my frown.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. 14 330: Don’t talk of the Devil [...] he’s the quod cove — the screwsman of the other world.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Screwsman, A turnkey.

(N.Z. prison) a novice prison officer.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/2: screwling a prison officer recently completed his or her training.

(N.Z. prison) a novice prison officer.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/1: baby screwa prison officer recently completed his or her training.

(US prison) the Deputy Warden.

1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 31: The ‘big screw’ was the deputy warden, who really had charge of the prison.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl.

(N.Z. prison) the prison officer in charge of the drug detection dog.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/1: pig dog screw the officer who handles the narcotics detection dog.

(N.Z. prison) a novice prison officer.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/1: schoolboy screw (also schoolgirl screw) a prison officer recently completed his or her training.

(N.Z. prison) the prison officer’s office, the guardhouse.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/1: screw’s house the prison officials’ office, the Control Room [...] screw box the prison officials’ office, the guardhouse.

(N.Z. prison) an inmate who is judged to be authority’s favouite .

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/1: screw’s pet an inmate who acts as the orderly for the prison officials’ office, because he is seen by the other inmates to be the officers’ favourite.

(Aus. prison) an over-officious warder.

1990

Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Superscrew. Derisory term for an overofficious warder.

to make a skeleton key.

1812

Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.

(Aus. prison) a parole officer.

1990

Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Screw on wheels. A parole officer.

(N.Z. prison) an inexperienced officer.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 160/2: screw with no stripes an inexperienced prison officer.

in prison.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 379: The dashing career of the Oxonian was, in consequence, stopped; and the officer, for his own safety, was compelled to put him under the screw.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

1. (orig. Aus.) to stare at in an aggressive manner.

1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Aug. 14/2: This bloke says, ‘You’ve got somethin’ pretty hot [...] wrapped up in that bit er hide.’ Then [...] he takes a screw at [...] me. [...] ‘What d’yer reckon yer can [...] fork him at?’.
1919		E. Dyson ‘Mickie Mollynoo’ in ‘Hello, Soldier!’ 42: I takes a screw at Molly. [...] He’s toyin’ with a scar of old I reckernise as mine.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: screw. (To have a) To look.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 79: The oul’ ones in the block must have come down to wish me luck and to have a screw at it.

2. to stare, to survey.

1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Dec. 38/3: Then I gave a screw along the cars, an’ my word, it was jest great.
1925		E. Wallace Feathered Serpent 68: You’re not police, are you? You are a reporter? Let’s have a screw at your card.
1927		E. Wallace Squeaker (1950) 157: Go and take a screw outside.
1945		R.S. Close Love me Sailor 138: What about nicking in and having a screw through the keyhole . . . if they’re in there?
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 59: Everyone rushed for the door and took a screw up the hill.

(US) an act of extreme harshness or unfairness, as meted out on oneself or to another person.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 190: Screw (royal) Difficult exam. A misfortune.
1970		(con. 1950s) H. Junker ‘The Fifties’ in Eisen Age of Rock 2 (1970) 100: The Royal Screw, hence The Royal Shaft, hence The King’s Elevator.

rheumatism, sciatica, fibrositis.

1897		G. Bartram People of Clopton 51: In bed roarin’ mad wi’ the screws [EDD].
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 1026/2: mid-C.19–20.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 24: He said he’d be dead o’ the screws by tomorrow.
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 85: Rheumatism, sciatica, fibrositis etc. are called ‘the screws’.
1999		C. Dexter Remorseful Day (2000) 348: Bert, it seemed, had ‘got the screws’.

1. a phr. used to suggest that something has gone wrong, or is missing or forgotten in a situation or arrangement; usu. as there’s a screw loose somewhere.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: A Screw loose — something wrong.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London II 391: Here they soon found out that, as a venerable son of the fan-tailed-hat fraternity described it, ‘a screw was loose’.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 237: I must admit there is a screw loose somewhere thereabouts, and I wish it would convene to Congress, to do something or another about our niggers.
1837		Marryat Snarleyyow II 127: They all agreed with Coble, when he observed, hitching up his trousers, ‘Depend upon it, there’s a screw loose somewhere’.
1841		Sporting Mag. Nov. 7: It was currently reported that there was ‘screw loose’ with Lord Jersey’s promising colt.
1851		‘Greenhorn’ [G. Thompson] Bristol Bill 13/1: It was apparent to all [...] that there was a screw loose somewhere.
1853		Royal Cornwall Gaz. 29 July3/1: Some will have it — there’s a screw loose at Downing-street.
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 227: Major, there’s a screw loose here — it’s not on the square, you understand.
1858		Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 Dec. 3/3: When the case was called on again last Wednesday it was found that there was a screw loose.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 106/1: First let’s go into this ‘lush drum’ out of sight, for I fear there’s a ‘screw loose,’ and it’s safer to be inside than out.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple III 261: When [...] a lot of machinery is put together in a hurry, it oughtn’t to be suprising [...] if a screw or so is loose in it.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 14: Darby whispered to one of his friends—(he was carpenter) ‘there’s a screw loose—’.
1882		Bristol Magpie 14 Sept. 6/1: We Hear [...] That his upper storey is certainly the worse for at least one screw.
1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 24 Nov. 14/4: The announcement [...] was enough to prove that there was a screw loose.
1884		H. Smart Post to Finish I 8: I don’t understand it, Rockinghham. I can’t help thinking there’s a screw loose.
1896		Regiment 12 Sept. 359/3: [T]here is evidently a screw loose somewhere, and Tommy should be allowed to have his foot-gear cobbled where he pleases.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Feb. 1/3: They went home discontented, fully seized of the fact that there must be ‘a screw loose somehow,’ and each taking the other for being such a fool to listen to the tales of those gentlemen.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 24 Jan. 6/4: There's a screw loose somewhere, and: we think the police should make matters a bit clearer before branding; the girl as. a dangerous liar .
1927		C. Woofter ‘Dialect Words and Phrases from West-Central West Virginia’ in AS II:8 363: The matter didn’t work out, because there was a screw loose somewhere.

2. (also a screw out of order) a phr. used of one who feels unwell.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 123: If the loose screw was not attended to, the hinges would ultimately be out of repair. [Ibid.] 390: A screw was loose; and two or three days passed over without his being able to quit his room.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 176: ‘There’s a screw out of order, as sure as I’m born. / I cannot make out what’s the matter with me’.

3. a phr. used to suggest that something is wrong with a person, their reputation or behaviour.

1821		‘Memoirs of Dan Donnelly’ in Fancy I XVI 372: When his lushing creb had got leaky, and a screw was loose, he bade adieu to Dublin Bay.
1830		Mr Mathews’ Comic Annual 23: That’s not Jerry’s pipe: I’ll call him; there seems to be a screw loose! but who’s afraid, damme?
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 237: I must admit there is a screw loose somewhere thereabouts.
1843		W.T. Moncrieff Scamps of London II i: Eh! Mr. Danver’s voice! What screw’s loose now?
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 123: Screw loose [...] something wrong in a man’s affairs.
1860		E. Eden Semi-Attached Couple (1979) 212: Yes, there is a screw loose with the clan of Douglas.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 223: [...] it is said there there is a screw loose betwen them; the same phrase is also used when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 96/1: This old ‘splorger’ begins to suspect, as we do, that there is a screw loose with him.
1873		Sl. Dict. 281: Screw loose the same phrase is also used when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.
1895		Sheffield Wkly Teleg. 23 Feb. 23/2: [pic. caption] Parent: There’s a screw loose somewhere, or you wouldn’t have lost that berth you were in.

4. (also a wheel loose, a wire loose, screws loose) a phr. used to describe someone who is considered eccentric, insane or retarded; often as have a screw loose.

1822		Tom And Jerry; Musical Extravaganza 54: Loose screw, something astray in a person’s health.
1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 455: I told him I thought there was a screw loose with you.
1859		E. Eden Semi-Detached House (1979) 83: As she did not seem clearly to comprehend what refreshment meant [...] he went down stairs to inform the housekeeper’s room that ‘there was a screw loose somewhere’.
1873		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Little Mr. Bouncer 134: The old bald-pate had a tile off or a screw loose somewhere.
1877		Illus. Sydney News 26 May 3/3: I thought there was a screw loose somewhere when Mr Buchanan set the whole city in a ferment about the colour of hamlet’s hair.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 99: What was the difference between this and other shops? Was a screw loose anywhere? In that case it certainly could not be her fault.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 15: screw loose, to have a To be unbalanced, crotchety.
1899		Cornishman 4 May 4/4: One of the crew, who had for a long time been thought to have ’a screw loose,’ rushed up to it and conclusively proved his insanity [...] He took out a large clasp-knife and split the fish open, turned to the crew and shouted, ‘I’ll do the same to you, by God’.
1911		Gem 30 Sept. 12: But my private belief is that you’ve got screw loose.
1911		Logan Republican (UT) 20 Jan. 7/2: ‘Matildy,’ I says, ‘he’s got a screw loose up aloft just as sure as you’re a born woman!’.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 174: Another interesting specimen was a man with ‘a screw loose’.
1929		C. McKay Banjo 193: But mah buddy said to me I had a screw loose.
1930		D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 55: I have often wondered just why these exceptionally brilliant people should resort to drugs [...] Obviously there is a screw loose somewhere.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 70: Hennessey must have some screws loose.
1938		W. Smitter F.O.B. Detroit 233: The place was full of screwballs. Every guy there’s got a wheel loose.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 180: They’re like left-handed pitchers — all with a screw loose.
1959		B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green Act I: Sam, she drives me mad talking about him... Hava, you’ve got a screw loose.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 53: They must have screws loose in their upper story.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 112: ‘How is your head?’ ‘It is better now.’ ‘Are you sure there are no loose screws in it?’ ‘No.’ ‘Neither am I. Your mate’s still asleep. He’s got sense.’.
1976		J. Heller Good As Gold (1979) 132: ‘Another screw,’ said his stepmother, ‘seems to be coming loose.’.
1988		Beano Comic Library Special No. 12 15: I never said you were crazy [...] I only said I thought you had a screw loose.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 21: Denton must have knocked a few of my screws loose.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Rev. 22 Aug. 15: He had a screw loose.
2000		Observer Rev. 9 Apr. 4: He had a ‘wire loose’.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 104: She’s got a screw loose, Gloria says.
2011		D.R. Pollock Devil All the Time 302: Someone who would kill a preacher for getting some young pussy had to have a screw loose.
2019		M. Herron Joe Country [ebook] ‘Frank Harkness has a screw loose, sure’.

5. a phr. said of people who are on bad terms.

1832		Egan Bk of Sports 298: Some surprise was manifested by the old Ring-goers, in witnessing Holt acting as the second to Sam, Harry having performed that office to Neal in all his previous battles, — but it was said [...] that a screw was loose between them, and that accounted for it.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 123: Screw loose, a quarrel between two individuals.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 223: When friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there there is a screw loose betwen them.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 9/1: The Leeds ‘fly-cops’ being away at the race in quest of some who had a ‘screw loose,’ left the ground pretty open and free for us.

6. attrib. use of sense 3.

1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 40: He didn’t feel like arguing with screwloose sprouts tonight.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 345: Rakowitz was a screw-loose kid [...] who’d been in and out of psych wards.

to be insane.

1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 221: The man must have dropped a screw or two, somewhere ‘across the dub’.
1912		P. MacKaye Sam Average in Mayorga (1919) 14: His screws are droppin’ out.

see have someone/something by the balls under balls n.

to be insane.

1965

G. Melly Owning Up (1974) 105: They will dress you all in blue / Just because you’ve lost a screw.

(Aus.) to hit.

1911

E. Dyson ‘Nicholas Don and the Meek Almira’ in Benno and Some of the Push 25: I seen yeh. I’ll put a screw on your chin Monday see if I don’t You—.

to set a limit on credit; either institutional or individual.

1857		Morn. Advertiser (London) 17 Nov. 1/3: The Bank has again put on the Screw, and the Markets are depressed.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1875		N.Y. Times 7 Apr. 6/6: In his [a suicide’s] possession were letters from a person in Lowell who had a hold on him, and from time to time ‘put on the screw’.
1930		Aberdeen Press 5 Mar. 4/2: [headline] Cut in the Army Estimates. Treasury to Put on the Screw.

to pressurize.

1825		N.-Y. National Advocate 15 Mar. 2/3: Streets. – The inspector of the first ward [intends] putting the corporation screws on all occupants of stores who are in the habit of encumbering the side pavements in an unlawful or improper manner.
1826		N.-Y. National Advocate 21 June 2/3–4: [headline] The Screws, No. 1. [...] It will be asked what object have the owners of the old Advocate, in thus seeking every occasion to put the screws upon me?
1833		C.A. Davis Letters of Major J. Downing (1835) 88: It loans money only to our friends, and gits its thumb on all the Banks it can, and makes them do so too; and if they don’t they put the screws on ’em.
1838		Paul Pry 30 Sept. 183/3: [H]e is not particular whether he puts the screw on friend or foe.
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair I 307: He knew where he could put the screw upon George.
1850		A.C. Mowatt Fashion V i: Now to put the screws to Tiff.
1856		Lewisburg Chron. (PA) 4 Jan. 7/3: ‘Put on the screws’, ply well your tasks.
1864		E. Yates Broken to Harness II 281: Tell Moss to put the screw on, and he’ll pay up fast enough.
1874		Jackson Standard (OH) 18 June 2/1: They are putting the screws to the beer jerkers [...] under the new ordnance.
1875		N.Y. Times 3 Jan. 4/6: Its dumb to try putting on the screws at the wrong time.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 2 Sept. 10/2: [They] threaten to drive the hotel keeper out of the business in retaliation for the way he put the screws on when he had them in his power.
1888		S. Wales Dly News 9 Nov. 2/2: All that is needed is to put on the screws.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 371: We shall be able to put the screw on both parties and name our terms.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 87: Mrs. Minick ‘learnt’ her man the virtues of diligence and self-denial; she put the screws on; in his own colloquialism, she made him ‘hustle for the dust’.
1904		H.M. Watkins [perf. Mark Sheridan] ‘All the little ducks went quack, quack, quack’ 🎵 He began to wane a bit - they put on the screw / Said that he'd proposed to each.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I xi: Do what you’re told, or we’ll put the screws on you—see?
1924		D. Hammett ‘Death on Pine Street’ Nightmare Town (2001) 212: You’re a damned fool [...] Put the screws on them!
1933		T.T. Flynn ‘The Deadly Orchid’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 107/1: She’s putting the screws on Maxwell [...] Wants her dough quick, or else.
1935		M. Harrison Spring in Tartarus 28: Oh! she put the scissors on ’em all right!
1935		W. Mahoney ‘The Ruse in Cocaine Alley’ in Und. Detective Mar. 🌐 Why not run them mugs in and put the screws to them?
1941		F. Swados House of Fury (1959) 83: Now they’re gonna put the screws on us, clamp down, all on account a them niggers.
1946		J. Cary Moonlight (1995) 180: ‘But how can I write when I know she only wants a letter to show her power.’ And on the next day when a wire came, ‘No letter yet,’ he complained, ‘You see she’s putting on the screw’.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 105: They’ve been putting the screws on him at the office.
1950		B. Spicer Blues for the Prince (1989) 229: She came here to put the screws to the Prince.
1954		J. Thompson Swell-Looking Babe 91: When to take it easy and when to put on the screws.
1959		J. Osborne World of Paul Slickey Act I: We have our professional ways and means / Of getting behind the scenes, / To put the screws on stars in jeans.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 162: The Old Man been putting the screw on?
1969		P. Theroux Murder in Mount Holly (1999) 37: You can’t fool kids. Kids are the darnedest little critics of things. They know when you’re putting the screws to them.
1975		T. Berger Sneaky People (1980) 153: They’ll get you otherwise and put the screws to you.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 39: I could put the screws to Pittsburgh Pete about the Blake murder.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 73: Ally knew when to put the screws on.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 227: The Hobby clerk is always worth putting the screws to.
1996		H. Roth From Bondage 114: It wasn’t my intention to put the screws on you because of that.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 65: One of his used bitches had got her screws into him.
2004		T. Dorsey Cadillac Beach 189: ‘What’s the last you heard?’ ‘He was mixing with some trouble boys on the flimflam, putting screws to a Peterman after the box job.’.
2004		Mad mag. Nov. 24: Your grades go up [...] because your parents ‘put the screws’ to your teachers.
2010		K. Richards Life 406: When there was a heroin drought [...] They really used to put the screws on.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] Led the task force that put the screws on everybody connected with The Mick.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 195: [S]he [...] must really be getting a kick out of putting the screws to him good.

to coerce, to compel, to force.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 379: The officer, for his own safety, was compelled to put him under the screw.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.

under pressure.

1826

N.-Y. American 15 Feb. 2/6: Mr. Wheeler. No wonder he made such a statement in his first fright. Would not a man say any thing when under the screws?