screw loose
English
Noun
screw loose (plural screws loose)
- (slang) A state of insanity or eccentricity.
- I think there's a screw loose in that brain of hers!
- (slang, archaic) A state of enmity or disagreement.
- 1830, Anna Maria Morgan, Horatio in Search of a Wife (page 155)
- I understand there's a screw loose between you two , so I've brought Morton that you may shake hands, and be comfortable together.
- 1845, Times and Seasons (volume 6, page 1050)
- There is evidently a screw loose between us and some or other of the countries from which, according to royal speeches, we are everlastingly receiving assurances of love and amity.
- 1880, Sir Augustus Phillimore, The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker (page 404)
- There is a screw loose between the Austrians and French about Venice, which the latter wish to remain as a Republic, and they are also rather angry with Prussia, but I hope the French squadron at Trieste will not come to blows.
- 1830, Anna Maria Morgan, Horatio in Search of a Wife (page 155)
Related terms
- have a screw loose