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Screw vs Wedge - What's the difference?

screw | wedge |

As nouns the difference between screw and wedge

is that screw is a device that has a helical function while wedge is one of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering (Wikipedia article).

As verbs the difference between screw and wedge

is that screw is to connect or assemble pieces using a screw while wedge is to support or secure using a wedge.

screw

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A device that has a helical function.
  • # A simple machine, a helical inclined plane.
  • # A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a shank 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.
  • # (lb) 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.
  • # An Archimedes screw.
  • # A steam vessel propelled by a screw instead of wheels.
  • (lb) A role.
  • # A prison guard.
  • # An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint.
  • (Thackeray)
  • # An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
  • To do with coitus.
  • # Sexual intercourse; the act of screwing.
  • #* 2001 , Bárbara Mujica, Frida: A Novel of Frida Kahlo , Overlook Press (2012), ISBN 9781468300994, 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 9781905886647, 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 9780758228765, 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.
  • # A casual sexual partner.
  • #* 1944 , W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge , Vintage International (2003), ISBN 9780307785084, 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 9780061004414, 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 9780061091551, 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 9781936107353, 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.
  • (lb) Salary, wages.
  • * 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling),
  • A certain amount of "screw " is as necessary for a man as for a billiard-ball.
  • (lb) Backspin.
  • (lb) A small packet of tobacco.
  • (Mayhew)
  • An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and commonly of good appearance.
  • (lb) 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.
  • An amphipod crustacean.
  • A prison guard.
  • Synonyms

    * (casual sexual partner) see also .

    Derived terms

    * Archimedes screw * capstan screw * hex head screw * machine screw * screw anchor * screwdriver * screw thread, screw-thread * screw drive * self-tapping screw * set screw * sheet-metal screw * turnscrew * wood screw

    See also

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To connect or assemble pieces using a screw.
  • (transitive, vulgar, slang) To have sexual intercourse with.
  • (slang) To cheat someone or ruin their chances in a game or other situation. Sometimes used in the form "screw over".
  • To apply pressure on; to put the screws on.
  • To practice extortion upon; to oppress by unreasonable or extortionate exactions.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Our country landlords, by unmeasurable screwing and racking their tenants, have already reduced the miserable people to a worse condition than the peasants in France.
  • To contort.
  • * Dryden
  • He screwed his face into a hardened smile.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter V
  • I had been calling Nobs in the meantime and was about to set out in search of him, fearing, to tell the truth, to do so lest I find him mangled and dead among the trees of the acacia grove, when he suddenly emerged from among the boles, his ears flattened, his tail between his legs and his body screwed into a suppliant S. He was unharmed except for minor bruises; but he was the most chastened dog I have ever seen.
  • (soccer) To miskick (a ball) by hitting it with the wrong part of the foot.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 5 , author=Chris Whyatt , title=Wolverhampton 2 - 1 Man Utd , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The visitors could have added an instant second, but Rooney screwed an ugly attempt high into Hennessey's arms after Berbatov cleverly found the unmarked England striker.}}
  • (billiard, snooker, pool) To screw back.
  • (US, slang, dated) To examine (a student) rigidly; to subject to a severe examination.
  • Synonyms

    * (2) * fuck (taboo slang) (2, 3) * (Australia) root (2) * (British) shag (2)

    Antonyms

    * unscrew

    Derived terms

    * screw over * * screw in * screw it * screw up * screw with * screwball * screwtape, screwtaping * screwy

    Anagrams

    * crews

    References

    wedge

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering ().
  • Stick a wedge under the door, will you? It keeps blowing shut.
  • A piece (of food etc.) having this shape.
  • Can you cut me a wedge of cheese?
  • (geometry) A five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.
  • (figurative) Something that creates a division, gap or distance between things.
  • * 2013 September 28, , " London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
  • It is one of the ironies of capital cities that each acts as a symbol of its nation, and yet few are even remotely representative of it. London has always set itself apart from the rest of Britain — but political, economic and social trends are conspiring to drive that wedge deeper.
  • (archaic) A flank of cavalry acting to split some portion of an opposing army, charging in an inverted V formation.
  • (golf) A type of iron club used for short, high trajectories.
  • A group of geese or swans when they are in flight in a V formation.
  • (in the plural) Wedge-heeled shoes.
  • (colloquial, British) A quantity of money.
  • I made a big fat wedge from that job.
  • (typography, US) =
  • * 1982 , Thomas Pyles and John Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language (3rd ed.), page 49
  • The wedge is used in Czech and is illustrated by the Czech name for the diacritic, ha?ek .
  • * 1996 , and William A. Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide (2nd ed.), page xxvi
  • The tilde and the circumflex have a place in the ASCII scheme but the wedge and the umlaut do not.
  • * 1999 , Florian Coulmas, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems , page 193, “há?ek”
  • The há?ek or ‘wedge'’ is a diacritic commonly used in Slavic orthographies. As a tone mark the ' wedge is used iconically for a falling-rising tone as in Chinese Pinyin.
  • (phonetics) The (l) character , which denotes an .
  • * 1996 , and William A. Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide (2nd ed.), page 19
  • Turned V is referred to as “Wedge ” by some phoneticians, but this seems inadvisable to us, because the ha?ek accent (?) is also called that in names like Wedge C for (?).
  • (label) The symbol , denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction.
  • Synonyms
    * (group of geese) skein * (l)

    Verb

  • To support or secure using a wedge.
  • I wedged open the window with a screwdriver.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
  • "Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.
  • To force into a narrow gap.
  • He had wedged the package between the wall and the back of the sofa.
  • To work wet clay by cutting or kneading for the purpose of homogenizing the mass and expelling air bubbles.
  • Derived terms

    * wedge issue * wedge politics * wedgie

    Etymology 2

    From Wedgewood, surname of the person who occupied this position on the first list of 1828.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (UK, Cambridge University, slang) The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos.
  • * 1873 , Charles Astor Bristed, Five Years in an English University
  • The last man is called the Wedge , corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics.
    Synonyms
    * wooden wedge
    See also
    * wooden spoon