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have a screw loose. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
have a screw loose, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
have a screw loose in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Verb
have a screw loose (third-person singular simple present has a screw loose, present participle having a screw loose, simple past and past participle had a screw loose)
- (slang) To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.
1871 July – 1873 February, Anthony Trollope, “The Major”, in The Eustace Diamonds. A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , published 1872, →OCLC, page 306, column 1:Richard, glorious in new livery, [...] went with his sad message, first to the church and then to the banqueting-hall in Albemarle Street. "Not any wedding?" said the head-waiter at the hotel. "I knew they was folks as would have a screw loose somewheres. [...]"
1916, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 22, in Just David:"You know he really has got a screw loose in his head somewheres, an' there ain't any one but what says he's the town fool, all right."
2010 July 16, Alessandra Stanley, “Television: Back to Work for ‘Mad Men’”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 June 2016:Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) would be just another irritating office brown-noser, a prep school Sammy Glick, except that he too has a screw loose and a mystical rapport with firearms.
2016 September 23, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Sep 23, 2016:"A successful murder has to be 'attempted' in the first place." "We both know what matters here is how you perceive the meaning." "Any immortal who considers that a loophole has a screw loose." "For all I know, your screws..." "I vow to not do anything with the intent of Elliot getting killed, okay? Leave my screws out of this."
Related terms
Translations
to be insane, irrational, or eccentric
- Bulgarian: побъркан съм (pobǎrkan sǎm), хлопа ми дъската (hlopa mi dǎskata)
- Dutch: een vijs kwijt zijn
- Finnish: olla ruuvi löysällä
- French: avoir un grain (fr), ne pas tourner rond (fr), avoir une case de vide (fr), avoir une case en moins (fr), avoir un pète au casque (fr)
- German: eine Schraube locker haben (de), nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben (de)
- Hungarian: hiányzik egy kereke (hu), nincs ki a négy kereke
- Icelandic: vera ekki með öllum mjalla
- Irish: seachrán a bheith ort
- Italian: essere svitato, mancare di qualche rotella
- Norwegian: ha en skrue løs
- Polish: nie mieć wszystkich w domu (pl) impf
- Russian: ви́нтика в голове́ не хвата́ет (víntika v golové ne xvatájet) (head is one bolt short), не все до́ма (ru) (ne vse dóma) (not everyone at home)
- Serbo-Croatian: фа̏лити по̏ дви̏је да̏ске (fȁliti pȍ dvȉje dȁske), fȁliti pȍ dvȉje dȁske
- Spanish: tener pájaros en la cabeza, tener un tornillo zafado
- Swedish: ha en skruv lös (sv)
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See also