Skip to main content
screw

screw

3 9.9
A person who watches prisoners in a jail
  • noun
  • /skruː/
  • Archaic
translation icon : carcelero
  • Prison rules, prison screws prisoners apart from the celebrities.

But people have who run strange ways, the cons or the screws, Right.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Shut up, you lousy screw.

  • The screws thought it was because I was always clowning around.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • You ain't talking to a screw now.

  • There was this screw what really had it in for me, And that geezer was top of my list.

  • Aye, right, so, we are the cons... and they are the screws.

  • I believe you, Warden, but I don't trust your screws.

  • The screws are watching.

  • I was only concerned with men being stripped of their dignity... cons and screws.

  • Every other day, one was passed to him through the bars by a screw.

  • The screw took pride in his professional indifference, courteous yet dismissive.

Synonyms

prison guard
vsscrew
26 2.5

A person who watches prisoners in a jail or prison

is the informal slang name used chiefly in British speech
jailer
vsscrew
19 3.0

A person who guards prisoners in a jail or prison

is the informal slang term rather than the neutral official word
turnkey
vsscrew
  • Archaic
3 9.9

A person who locks and guards prisoners in a jail

is informal slang now used rather than this older, historical term
jailor
vsscrew
  • Archaic
2 4.2

A person who guards prisoners in a jail

is the informal British slang form instead of the standard spelling

Antonyms

337 3.5

A person kept in a prison, hospital, or similar place

Idioms

to screw the pooch
  • Offensive
9 9.9

Make a very bad mistake because you are not careful

screw this
  • Offensive
1 9.8

An angry short phrase you say when you give up or stop doing something

An event that makes a tense or difficult situation worse

Compounds

screw-up
  • Informal
33 6.1

A careless mistake that causes problems or embarrassment

screw-up
  • Offensive
22 7.0

A person who often makes mistakes in important situations

screw-loose
  • Offensive
12 9.0

Behaving in a strange or not sensible way

machine screw
  • Specialized
1 3.7

A metal screw with the same width along its length used with a nut or in a threaded hole

1 2.8

A small metal piece with a spiral thread that you turn to hold things together

screw eye
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A short metal rod with a round loop at one end for hanging things

A tool for pulling a cork out of a bottle

cap screw
  • Specialized
6.6

A screw with a finished head that you screw into a threaded hole to hold machine parts together

Allen screw
  • Specialized
6.3

A screw with a six-sided hole in the head that you turn with a hex key

6.8

A large strong screw with a square or six-sided head driven with a wrench into wood to hold heavy things

A small shrub with hairy leaves and bright orange-red flowers

Phillips screw
  • Specialized
3.9

A screw with a cross-shaped slot in its head that you turn with a matching screwdriver

screw jack
  • Specialized
5.6

A tool that lifts heavy things by turning a screw, often used to raise a car

screw key
  • Specialized
5.5

A small tool that fits into a screw head to turn it

screw log
  • Archaic
9.9

A long round object with rotating fins that measures how fast a ship moves in water

screw auger
  • Specialized
7.7

A hand tool with a spiral metal blade that makes holes in wood

screw augur
  • Specialized
9.9

A kind of orchid that has tall stems and a spiral of small white, sweet-smelling flowers

screw bean
  • Specialized
9.8

A dry-land shrub or small tree with spiral seed pods from the US Southwest and Mexico

screw bean
  • Specialized
9.9

A sweet spiral seed pod from a dry-land tree that animals eat or people grind into meal

A tropical tree with strong roots that grow above the ground, long narrow leaves, and conelike edible fruit

A tool with one movable jaw that you move by turning a screw to hold nuts or bolts

screw press
  • Specialized
6.4

A machine that uses a long turned metal rod to squeeze liquid from solid things

screw propeller
  • Specialized
5.3

A device with angled blades that turns to push a boat or plane forward

screw thread
  • Specialized
5.0

A raised spiral on a screw or bolt makes it hold things when you turn it

A tropical tree or shrub with seed pods twisted like a spiral

screw-pine family
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of woody plants including Pandanus and similar species with long fibrous leaves

textile screw pine
  • Australian
9.9

A tropical plant with long strong leaves people use to weave mats and hats

wing screw
  • Specialized
5.5

A small metal part with flat side pieces you can turn by hand to hold things together

Surface Forms

screw singular
screws plural

Etymology

The British slang screw for a prison guard comes from older informal use and may be linked to the idea of someone who 'tightens' or controls things; a useful image is a guard who keeps rules tight, like turning a screw.