different between screwball vs screwy

English

Etymology

screw +? ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?u?b??l/

Noun

screwball (plural screwballs)

1. (baseball) A pitch thrown with added pressure by the index finger and a twisting wrist motion resulting in a motion to the right when thrown by a right-handed pitcher.

   The screwball is not thrown much because it tends to damage pitcher's arms.

2. (US) One who behaves in a crazy manner.

   I will not listen to this screwball any longer.

Translations

Adjective

screwball (comparative more screwball, superlative most screwball)

1. (originally US) Crazy, offbeat, bizarre, zany, or weird.
   • 2013, Tom Shone, Oscar nominations pull a surprise by showing some taste – but will it last? (in The Guardian, 11 January 2013)[1]

     Also a big hand for Silver Linings Playbook, an exuberant modern screwball comedy we had, in an unseemly fit of cynicism, deemed "too entertaining" for Academy voters.

Derived terms

• screwball comedy

English

Etymology

screw +? -y. 1820, original meaning “tipsy, slightly drunk”; meaning “crazy, ridiculous” first recorded 1887.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?u?.i/
• Rhymes: -u?i

Adjective

screwy (comparative screwier or more screwy, superlative screwiest or most screwy)

1. (informal) Crazy; silly; ridiculous

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:insane
2. (archaic, informal) Tipsy; slightly drunk.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:drunk

   • 1868, Memorials of a theological college. London: Houlston & Wright. 1868. p9

     "A tipsy man," said Spearman, "is generally noisy ; and I confess I was screwy on Wednesday."

3. (archaic) Exacting; extortionate; close.
4. (archaic) Worthless.

Quotations

• 1840, Hal of the West. Brilliant run with the Puckeridge hounds. The Sporting Magazine. March, 1840. Vol XX, No 119. p383

  " I saw my hearty out of the yard, with his pink peeping out of his Macintosh, on his screwy old black horse, and I heard from my fair waiter that he had been vaunting that he would lick us all into fits."

• 1877, Edward Peacock, English Dialect Society. A glossary of words used in the wapentakes of Manley and Corringham. London: Trubner & Co. 1877. p120

  "Screwy [skroo'i], adj. mean ; stingy ; parsimonious. Alto, slightly intoxicated."

Related terms

• have a screw loose
• screwball
• screw up