corkscrew
UK/ˈkɔːk.skɹuː//ˈkɔɹk.skɹu/
corkscrew noun: an implement for opening bottles that are sealed by a cork. Sometimes specifically such an implement that includes a screw-shaped part, or worm.
Noun
corkscrew (plural corkscrews)
- An implement for opening bottles that are sealed by a cork. Sometimes specifically such an implement that includes a screw-shaped part, or worm.
- I opened the wine with a corkscrew.
- There stood presented to his sight, Or seem'd to stand, the God of wine, […] This hand a Cork-scrue did contain, And that a Bottle of Champaign.1720, Nicholas Amhurst, “The Bottle-Scrue”, in Poems on Several Occasions, page 113
- Synonyms:
- bottle screw, cork puller
- The screw-shaped worm of a typical corkscrew.
- A bubble rising rapidly in water describes a spiral closely resembling a corkscrew.1898, Herbert Spencer, First Principles of a New System of Philosophy
- A type of sharp, twisting punch, often one thrown close and from the side.
- […] the immovable McCoy let fly his most miraculous punch of the evening, of his lives, a world-beater of a right corkscrew, a punch years in the windup […]2002, Darin Strauss, The Real McCoy, →ISBN, page 42
- A type of inversion used in roller coasters.
- A corkscrew has a 90° turn just prior to the loop and a 90° turn just afterward.1987 September, Tim Cole, “Killer Coasters”, in Popular Mechanics, page 56
Adjective
corkscrew (not comparable)
- Having the tightly winding shape of a corkscrew.
- Then the old gentleman spun himself round with velocity in the opposite direction, continued to spin until his long cloak was all wound neatly about him, clapped his cap on his head, very much on one side (for it could not stand upright without going through the ceiling), gave an additional twist...1841, John Ruskin, chapter I, in The King of the Golden River
- All the heat of a decade of fierce Indian summers is stored in the pitch-black, polished walls of the corkscrew staircase.1885, Rudyard Kipling, The City of Dreadful Night
- Synonyms:
- helical
Verb
corkscrew (third-person singular simple present corkscrews, present participle corkscrewing, simple past and past participle corkscrewed)
- To wind or twist in the manner of a corkscrew; to move with much horizontal and vertical shifting.
- Into the tea–room Mr. Pickwick turned; and catching sight of him, Mr. Bantam corkscrewed his way through the crowd and welcomed him with ecstasy.1832, Charles Dickens, chapter 35, in The Pickwick Papers
- The street corkscrewed endlessly. Sometimes it seemed to stop; then it found a hole in the opposing masonry and edged its way in.1916, John Buchan, chapter 10, in Greenmantle
- To cause something to twist or move in a spiral path or shape.
- Caught and twisted—corkscrewed in the mazes of the line, loose harpoons and lances, with all their bristling barbs and points, came flashing and dripping up to the chocks in the bows of Ahab’s boat.1851, Herman Melville, chapter 134, in Moby-Dick
- Rusty corkscrewed the plane back down again, but instead of mashing the throttles to the wall, he pulled them to idle.2006, Rocky Raab, Baggy Zero Four, page 155
- Synonyms:
- spiral
- To extract information or consent from someone.
- I strongly suspect (from what Small has dropped, and from what we have corkscrewed out of him) that those letters I was to have brought to your ladyship were not destroyed when I supposed they were.1852, Charles Dickens, chapter 55, in Bleak House
- Yes, I believe you did after it was corkscrewed out of you, but I got the impression at the outset that you were, just as willing to let it stand there.1922, James Thomas Heflin, Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, page 460
corkscrew meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay
corkscrew in Tamil
- குக்கிடுக்கி, திருகுசுருள் மணியிழைக் கம்பளித் துணி
corkscrew in Tagalog
- implement for opening bottles sealed by a cork
- tirabuson, tribuson
corkscrew in Arabic
- implement for opening bottles sealed by a cork
- بَرِّيمة barrīma
corkscrew in Malay
- implement for opening bottles sealed by a cork
- pencabut gabus
More languagesFewer languages
- corkscrew in Indonesian
- kotrek
- corkscrew in Thai
- เหล็กไขจุก hel̆k k̄hị cuk
- corkscrew in Vietnamese
- tóc xoắn
Examples of corkscrew in a sentence
- A corkscrew is designed so that when it is turned it creates effectively a helical undulation pushing it into the cork, whereas rotation in the opposite sense pulls it out.1999, James Lighthill, “Biofluiddynamics: A Survey”, in Contemporary Mathematics, volume 141, page 11:
- A two-prong or ah-so corkscrew with sheath.2006, Costas Katsigris, Chris Thomas, The Bar and Beverage Book, 4th edition, page 152:
- Wide eyes and corkscrew hair / Tied with lace you found somewhere1980, “Spring Collection”, in New Clear Days, performed by The Vapors:
- Far off to starboard an Atlantic liner, all lights blazing, came towards us, corkscrewing with a motion which must have left the passengers unhappy.1960, Lobsang Rampa, chapter 5, in The Rampa Story:
Synonyms of corkscrew
Forms of corkscrew
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | corkscrews |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | corkscrews |
| present participle | corkscrewing |
| past participle | corkscrewed |
| past | corkscrewed |
Origin of corkscrew
From cork + screw.
Words formed from corkscrew
- corkscrew flower
- corkscrew grass
- corkscrew hazel
- corkscrewlike
- corkscrew physa
- corkscrew stake
- corkscrew stroke
- corkscrew vine
- corkscrewy
- devil's corkscrew
Phrases with corkscrew
Questions about corkscrew
- What does corkscrew mean?
- Corkscrew means an implement for opening bottles that are sealed by a cork. Sometimes specifically such an implement that includes a screw-shaped part, or worm.
- What is corkscrew in Tamil?
- Corkscrew in Tamil is குக்கிடுக்கி, திருகுசுருள் மணியிழைக் கம்பளித் துணி. See Corkscrew meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use corkscrew in a sentence?
- A corkscrew is designed so that when it is turned it creates effectively a helical undulation pushing it into the cork, whereas rotation in the opposite sense pulls it out.
- What part of speech is corkscrew?
- Corkscrew can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce corkscrew?
- Corkscrew is pronounced /ˈkɔːk.skɹuː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of corkscrew?
- The plural of corkscrew is corkscrews.
Words near corkscrew in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: corkscrew (page history and authors); corkscrew (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-corkscrew.ogg, en-au-corkscrew.ogg.
Cite this entry: “corkscrew.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/corkscrew. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.