screwed

English

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). 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, 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.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• 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:

     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 […]

Usage notes

• Often employed as a bowdlerization, or substitution, for fucked.

Usage notes

Because the sexual act as a metaphor for domination is a frequent association for the term 'screwed', it is potentially offensive in polite circles.

Synonyms

• (beset, vulgar): fucked, dicked, shagged (British); see also Thesaurus:in trouble
• (intoxicated): See Thesaurus:drunk

Derived terms

• screwed, blued and tattooed / screwed, glued and tattooed
• screwedness

Related terms

• screw over

Translations

beset with unfortunate circumstances

• Catalan: fotut (ca), fastiguejat (ca), putejat (ca) (slang informal)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 完蛋 (zh) (wándàn)

• Finnish: pulassa, kusessa
• French: foutu (fr)
• German: in der Scheiße stecken (de)
• Japanese: 一巻の終わり (いっかんのおわり, ikkan no owari)
• Portuguese: fodido (pt), lixado (pt), quilhado, tramado
• Russian: (used predicatively, e.g. ему́ кранты́! - he is screwed!) кранты́ (ru) m pl (krantý), хана́ (ru) f (xaná), каю́к (ru) m (kajúk), кирды́к (ru) m (kirdýk), капу́т (ru) m (kapút), кры́шка (ru) f (krýška), пизде́ц (ru) m (pizdéc) (vulgar)
• Spanish: jodido (es), cagado (es), en el horno (slang informal), apañado (es)
• Turkish: ayvayı yemek (tr)

slang: intoxicated

• Bulgarian: пиян (bg) (pijan)
• Finnish: kännissä (fi)
• Russian: бухо́й (ru) (buxój)
• Spanish: del orto (es) (vulgar slang)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

See also

• screwed up

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.

Anagrams

• decrews