different between beset vs screwed

English

Etymology

From Middle English besetten, bisetten, from Old English besettan (“to beset; set beside; set near; appoint; place; own; possess”), from Proto-Germanic *bisatjan? (“to set near; set around”), equivalent to be- +? set. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besätte (“to occupy”), West Frisian besette (“to occupy”), Dutch bezetten (“to sit in; occupy; fill”), German Low German besetten (“to occupy”), German besetzen (“to seize; occupy; garrison”), Danish besætte (“to occupy; obsess”), Swedish besätta (“to fill; occupy; beset”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??s?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

beset (third-person singular simple present besets, present participle besetting, simple past and past participle beset)

1. (transitive) To surround or hem in.
2. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To attack or assail, especially from all sides.

   • “Nay, for matter o’ that, he never doth any mischief,” said the woman; “but to be sure it is necessary he should keep some arms for his own safety; for his house hath been beset more than once; and it is not many nights ago that we thought we heard thieves about it […]

3. (transitive) To decorate something with jewels etc.
4. (nautical) Of a ship, to get trapped by ice.

Derived terms

• besetting

Translations

Anagrams

• Beets, Beste, beest, beets, tsebe

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch bezetten, from Middle Dutch besetten, from Old Dutch *bisetten, from Proto-Germanic *bisatjan?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??s?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Verb

beset (present beset, present participle besettende, past participle beset)

1. (transitive) to occupy, to fill
2. (transitive, military) to occupy militarily

Derived terms

• besetting

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -u?d

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 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.

Adjective

screwed (comparative more screwed, superlative most screwed)

1. (slang) fucked, 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, Britain) intoxicated.
   • a. 1914, James Joyce, "The Dead", Dubliners

     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.

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

Translations

See also

• screwed up

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.

Verb

screwed

1. simple past tense 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.

References

Anagrams

• decrews