## Meanings
1. A small metal pin with a spiral thread, turned to fasten things together.
2. To fasten or attach something using screws or a twisting motion.
3. A guard in a prison.

## Examples
- He tightened the last screw on the shelf.
- Screw the lid back on the jar tightly.
- The screws moved him to another cell.

## Antonyms
- unscrew

## Derived Forms
- screw-in
- screwball
- screwtape
- screwtaping
- screwy

## Related Forms
- bolt
- lampholder

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: screw
- Root: escroue
- Root: scrōfa
- Root: *scrūva
- Root: *skrūbō
- Root: *(s)keru-

## Etymology
From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scrūva ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word. more on the etymology of screw Old French escroue (whence Medieval Latin scrofa (“nut, screwhole”)), is believed to be an adap…

## AI Etymology
Screw is from Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scrūva ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English screw, Old French escroue, Latin scrōfa, odt *scrūva, Proto-Germanic *skrūbō, Proto-Indo-European *(s)keru-. In current use it includes senses such as A small metal pin with a spiral thread, turned to fasten things together and To fasten or attach something using screws or a twisting motion.

## Topics
- Tools, Machines & Construction

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