screwed

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “The reference given does not support most of the claims.”) From screw +‎ -ed.

• The modern sense of screwed originates in the mid-1600s with a sense of to screw as a means of "exerting pressure or coercion", probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrews).^[1] It quickly gained a wider general sense of "in a bind; in unfortunate inescapable circumstances". When the verb screw gained a sexual connotation in the early 1700s,^[2] it joined the long-lasting association of sexual imagery as a metaphor for domination, leading to screwed gaining synonyms like fucked and shagged. On a more general note, this is a prime example of the frequent tendency for verb participles to evolve into participial adjectives.
• The sense meaning "intoxicated" is from the early 1800s, and is associated with the term screwy, and the idiom to have a screw loose.^[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -uːd

Adjective

screwed (comparative more screwed, superlative most screwed)

1. (slang, mildly vulgar) Beset with unfortunate circumstances that seem difficult or impossible to overcome; in imminent danger.

   They found out about our betrayal, so now we're screwed.

2. (slang, British, dated) Intoxicated.
   • 1889, Belgravia, volume 70, page 15:

     " […] Did you know that my husband came home intoxicated?"
     Mrs. Brown laughed.
     "Oh, not so bad as that, surely! Only a little 'screwed.' George was 'quisby,' too. But then its Christmas, you know."

   • 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, pages 217–218:

     Besides they were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane's pupils should see him under the influence; […]

Verb

screwed

1. simple past and past participle of screw

   He screwed the boards together tightly.

   I got screwed at the swap meet yesterday.

   • 1641, Richard Chambers (merchant), quoted in Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution: An Historical Treatise, Part II: The After-Growth of the Constitution, H.O. Houghton & Company (1889), p. 274,

     […] merchants are in no part of the world so screwed as in England. In Turkey, they have more encouragement.

References

Anagrams

• decrews