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screw loose. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
screw loose, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
screw loose in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
screw loose you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Noun
screw loose (plural screws loose)
- (slang) A state of insanity or eccentricity.
- Synonyms: slate loose, tile loose
I think there's a screw loose in that brain of hers!
- (slang, archaic) A state of enmity or disagreement.
1830, Anna Maria Morgan, Horatio in Search of a Wife, page 155:I understand there's a screw loose between you two , so I've brought Morton that you may shake hands, and be comfortable together.
1845, Times and Seasons, volume 6, page 1050:There is evidently a screw loose between us and some or other of the countries from which, according to royal speeches, we are everlastingly receiving assurances of love and amity.
1880, Sir Augustus Phillimore, The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker, page 404:There is a screw loose between the Austrians and French about Venice, which the latter wish to remain as a Republic, and they are also rather angry with Prussia, but I hope the French squadron at Trieste will not come to blows.
References
- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary