From en.wiktionary.org:
** English
*** Etymology
[en] From [en].
- The modern sense of [en] originates in the mid-1600s with a sense of [en] as a means of "exerting pressure or coercion", probably in reference to instruments of torture (e.g. thumbscrew s). [1] It quickly gained a wider general sense of "in a bind; in unfortunate inescapable circumstances". When the verb [en] 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 [en] gaining synonyms like [en] and [en] . On a more general note, this is a prime example of the frequent tendency for verb participle s to evolve into participial adjective s.
- The sense meaning "intoxicated" is from the early 1800s, and is associated with the term [en] , and the idiom [en] . <ref name="noun"/>
*** Pronunciation
- [en]
- [en]
*** Adjective
[en-adj]
1. [en] Beset with unfortunate circumstance s that seem difficult or impossible to overcome ; in imminent danger .
2. [en] [intoxicated] .
3. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1889 | title=Belgravia | volume=70 | page=15
|passage="[...] Did you know that my husband came home _intoxicated_?"<br>Mrs.
Brown laughed.<br>"Oh, not so bad as that, surely! Only a little 'SCREWED.'
George was 'quisby,' too. But then its Christmas, you know."}}
1. * [pages=217–218]
**** Usage notes
- Often employed as a bowdlerization , or substitution, for [en] .
**** 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] [en] , [en] , [en] [British] ; see also Thesaurus:in trouble
- [intoxicated] See Thesaurus:drunk
**** Derived terms
- [en]
- [en] / screwed, glued and tattooed
- [en]
**** Related terms
- [en]
**** Translations
[beset with unfortunate circumstances]
- Catalan: [ca] , [ca] , [ca] [slang informal]
- Chinese:
- Dutch: [nl]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi]
- French: [fr]
- German: [de]
- Icelandic: [is]
- Irish: [ga]
- Japanese: [ja]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt] , [pt] , [pt]
- Russian: [used predicatively, e.g. ему́ кранты́! - he is screwed!] [ru] , [ru] , [ru] , [ru] , [ru] , [ru] , [ru] [vulgar]
- Spanish: [es] , [es] , [es] [slang informal] , [es]
- Swedish: [sv]
- Turkish: [tr]
[trans-bottom]
[slang: intoxicated]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Finnish: [fi]
- Russian: [ru]
- Spanish: [es] [vulgar slang]
[trans-bottom]
[checktrans-top] [trans-bottom]
**** See also
- [en]
*** Verb
[en]
1. [en]
2. * < !--this may be a verb use - not clearly adjective--> 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 (see http://books.google.com/books?id=OS00AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA274&dq=screwed) ,
3. *: [ … ] merchants are in no part of the world so SCREWED as in England. In Turkey, they have more encouragement.
<!--longer quot for context, from Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., and Robert F.
Hébert, _A history of economic theory and method_, Fourth Edition, Waveland
Press (1997), ISBN 1-57766-381-0, page 58: "The episode in question involves
Charles I and his battle with Parliament over customs duties. King Charles
claimed an "ancient right" to customs, but Parliament ultimately seized the
exclusive power to set these duties in 1641. While Parliamenet was dissolved,
the King reasserted his claim of absolute authority to levy taxes. However,
merchant importers refused, in their own interests, to pay customs to the
king, obeying instead Parliament's decree to refuse to pay any dutires not
authorized by itself. The King retaliated by seizing the merchants' goods,
whereupon several of them resisted and were brought befroe the Privy Council.
Merchant Richard Chambers brazenly declared that 'merchants are in no part of
the world so screwed as in England. In Turkey, they have more encouragement'
(Taylor, Hannis, _Origin and Growth of the English Constitution_, p. 274)."
-->
*** References
References:
[1]. [screw]
[2]. [screw]
*** Anagrams
- [en]