different between screw vs slam

English

Etymology

From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scr?fa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scr?va ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?u?/

Noun

screw (plural screws)

1. A device that has a helical function.
   1. A simple machine, a helical inclined plane.
   2. A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a partially or completely threaded shank, sometimes with a threaded point, and a head used to both hold the top material and to drive the screw either directly into a soft material or into a prepared hole.
   3. (nautical) A ship's propeller.

      • It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

   4. An Archimedes screw.
   5. A steam vessel propelled by a screw instead of wheels.
2. The motion of screwing something; a turn or twist to one side.
3. (slang, derogatory) A prison guard.
   • 1994, Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption (film):

     And that's how it came to pass that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of forty-nine wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning drinking icy cold, Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison.

   • 2000, Reginald Kray, A Way of Life:

     They both wedged up in his cell and refused to come out. They were hurling abuse at the screws on the other side of the door. As a result they were both shipped out to another jail the following day.

4. (slang, derogatory) An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 8:

     This gentleman and the guard seemed to know Sir Pitt very well, and laughed at him a great deal. They both agreed in calling him an old screw; which means a very stingy, avaricious person.

5. (US, slang, dated) An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
6. (vulgar, slang) Sexual intercourse; the act of screwing.
   • 2001, Bárbara Mujica, Frida: A Novel of Frida Kahlo, Overlook Press (2012), ?ISBN, unnumbered page:

     “Not for God's sake, for Papá's sake. He's the one who gave Mami a good screw, and then you popped out. Or did you think you were a child of the Immaculate Conception, like the Baby Jesus?

   • 2007, Barry Calvert, Swingers 1, Matador (2007), ?ISBN, page 85:

     A few couples would let selected doggers join in, with the lucky ones managing to get a screw.

   • 2009, Kimberly Kaye Terry, The Sweet Spot, Aphrodisia Books (2009), ?ISBN, page 28:

     As she sucked the nicotine deeply into her lungs, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the headboard, enjoying the pleasurable buzz that the combination of a good screw—well, a decent screw—coupled with the nicotine gave.

7. (vulgar, slang) A casual sexual partner.
   • 1944, W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge, Vintage International (2003), ?ISBN, unnumbered page:

     “If I don't go back to my boy friend he'll be as mad as hell. He's a sulky brute, but Christ, he's a good screw.”

   • 1990, Susan Lewis, Stolen Beginnings, HarperPaperbacks (1992), ?ISBN, page 122:

     "Swear it!" Kathleen screamed. "Let her know that she's just another screw. Because, darling, that's all you are. So go on, tell her!"

   • 1993, William Gill, Fortune's Child, HarperCollins Canada (1994), ?ISBN, page 42:

     She was just a girl, like any of the girls he had had so easily, just another screw.

   • 2009, Sam Moffie, The Book of Eli, Mill City Press (2009), ?ISBN, page 6:

     Mary was Eli's favorite screw because she was clean, pretty, a good mother, funny, and alway was able to make herself available for their twice a week fucks as easily as he was.

8. (slang) Salary, wages.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, "In the Pride of His Youth"

     A certain amount of "screw" is as necessary for a man as for a billiard-ball.

9. (billiards) Backspin.
10. (slang) A small packet of tobacco.
    • 1847, Henry Mayhew, The Greatest Plague of Life

      3 Screws and a Pipe

11. (dated) An old, worn-out, unsound and worthless horse.
12. (mathematics) A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated. It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.
13. An amphipod crustacean.

14. (informal, in the plural, with "the") Rheumatism.
    • 2000, Jacqueline Simpson, Stephen Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore

      She didn't like my mother, so she made a wax doll and stuck thorns into its legs, and my mother had the screws (rheumatism) in her legs ever since.

Synonyms

• (casual sexual partner): see also Thesaurus:casual sexual partner.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bolt
• lampholder

Verb

screw (third-person singular simple present screws, present participle screwing, simple past and past participle screwed)

1. (transitive) To connect or assemble pieces using a screw.
2. (transitive, vulgar, slang) To have sexual intercourse with.
3. (transitive, slang) To cheat someone or ruin their chances in a game or other situation.
4. (transitive) To practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions; to put the screws on.
5. (transitive) To contort.
6. (soccer, transitive) To miskick (a ball) by hitting it with the wrong part of the foot.
7. (billiard, snooker, pool) To screw back.
8. (US, slang, dated) To examine (a student) rigidly; to subject to a severe examination.

Synonyms

• (connect or assemble pieces): screw up; see also Thesaurus:join
• (have sexual intercourse with): fuck (taboo, slang), root (Australia), shag (British); see also Thesaurus:copulate with
• (cheat someone): fuck (taboo, slang), screw over
• (practice extortion upon): extort
• (contort): twist, writhe

Antonyms

• unscrew

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Crews, crews

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /slæm/
• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).

Verb

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

1. (transitive, ergative) To shut with sudden force so as to produce a shock and noise.

2. (transitive, ergative) To put in or on a particular place with force and loud noise. (Often followed by a preposition such as down, against or into.)

3. (transitive) To strike forcefully with some implement.
4. (intransitive) To strike against suddenly and heavily.
5. (transitive, colloquial) To speak badly of; to criticize forcefully.

6. (basketball) To dunk forcefully, to slam dunk.
7. (intransitive, bridge) To make a slam bid.
8. (transitive, card games) To defeat (opponents at cards) by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand.
   • 1742, Edmond Hoyle, A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist

     D having seven Spades in his Hand wins them, and consequently slams A and B

9. (transitive, slang) To change providers (e.g. of domain registration or telephone carrier) for a customer without clear (if any) consent.
10. (transitive) To drink off, to drink quickly.
11. To compete in a poetry slam.
12. (transitive, drugs, slang) To inject intravenously; shoot up.

Synonyms

• (drink quickly): See also Thesaurus:drink
• (shoot up): bang

Derived terms

• slam the door on
• slam on the brakes

Translations

Noun

slam (countable and uncountable, plural slams)

1. (countable) A sudden impact or blow.
   • 1981, Shel Silverstein, “How Many, How Much”, A Light in the Attic, Harper & Row:

     How many slams in an old screen door? / Depends how loud you shut it.

2. (countable) The shock and noise produced by violently closing a door or other object.

   • The slam and the scowl were lost upon Sam.

3. (countable, basketball) A slam dunk.
4. (countable, colloquial, US) An insult.

5. (uncountable) The yellow iron silicate produced in alum works as a waste product.
6. A poetry slam.
7. A slambook.
   • 2017, Mark Duffett, Fan Identities and Practices in Context: Dedicated to Music (page 194)

     Regular friendship books had a variety of variations, such as slams, crams, and decos.
8. (Britain, dialect) The refuse of alum works.
9. (music) A subgenre of death metal with elements of hardcore punk focusing on midtempo rhythms, breakdowns and palm-muted riffs

Translations

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

slam (countable and uncountable, plural slams)

1. (uncountable, obsolete) A type of card game, also called ruff and honours.
2. A card game, played all at once without separate turns, in which players attempt to get rid of their cards as quickly as possible according to certain rules.

   Synonym: spit

3. (countable, card games) Losing or winning all the tricks in a game.
4. (countable, bridge) A bid of six (small slam) or seven (grand slam) in a suit or no trump.
5. (countable, sports) Winning all (or all but one) of the available, major or specified events in a given year or sports season.

Derived terms

• grand slam
• little slam

Verb

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

1. (transitive, card games) To defeat by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand.

Etymology 3

Compare Dutch slomp, German Schlampe.

Noun

slam (plural slams)

1. (obsolete) A shambling fellow.

Anagrams

• AMLs, AMSL, LAMs, Lams, MASL, SAML, alms, lams, mals, masl, salm

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?slam]

Noun

slam

1. genitive plural of sláma

French

Noun

slam m (plural slams)

1. poetry slam

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [slam]

Noun

slam

1. dative of sl?

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German Schlamm

Noun

slam n (definite singular slammet, uncountable)

1. mud, ooze, slime, sludge, slurry

References

• “slam” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slam” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Schlamm

Noun

slam n (definite singular slammet, uncountable)

1. mud, ooze, slime, sludge, slurry

References

• “slam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Volapük

Proper noun

slam

1. Islam

Declension