Word.ws English Dictionary

having a screw loose

having a screw loose is the present participle and gerund of have a screw loose.

Meaning of have a screw loose

Verb

have a screw loose (third-person singular simple present has a screw loose, present participle having a screw loose, simple past and past participle had a screw loose)

  1. (slang) To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.
    • Richard, glorious in new livery, [...] went with his sad message, first to the church and then to the banqueting-hall in Albemarle Street. "Not any wedding?" said the head-waiter at the hotel. "I knew they was folks as would have a screw loose somewheres. [...]"1871 July – 1873 February, Anthony Trollope, “The Major”, in The Eustace Diamonds. A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1872, →OCLC, page 306, column 1

Questions about having a screw loose

What is having a screw loose the present participle and gerund of?
Having a screw loose is the present participle and gerund of have a screw loose.

Words near having a screw loose in the dictionary

  1. having a poor time of it
  2. having a quiet word
  3. having a rough time of it
  4. having a run for it
  5. having a say
  6. having a screw loose
  7. having a seat
  8. having a shit
  9. having a short memory
  10. having a sixpenny bit up one's backside
  11. having a snootful

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: having a screw loose (page history and authors); have a screw loose (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.

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