Word.ws English Dictionary

screw off

screw off verb: to remove the lid of a jar or other container by unscrewing it.

Verb

screw off (third-person singular simple present screws off, present participle screwing off, simple past and past participle screwed off)

  1. To remove the lid of a jar or other container by unscrewing it.
    • Hold it in two hands and screw off the lid. Set the lid down. Inside are pickled onions.2004, Cathy Myata, Speaking rules!: Games and activities for creating effective speakers, presenters and storytellers, page 52
  2. (colloquial, idiomatic) To fail to do one's work; to goof off.
    • When the boss wasn't around on the weekend they would sometimes screw off.
    • On account of the high rate of wages at Sydney, stevedores will not "screw off" now so willingly as they did formerly.1878, Robert White Stevens, On the stowage of ships and their cargoes: with information regarding freights, charter parties, &c., &c., page 798
  3. (colloquial, idiomatic) To leave; to bugger off.
    • I finished the work early so I screwed off.

Interjection

  1. (idiomatic, possibly, vulgar) An expression of surprise or disbelief.
    • "We just won a new car!" "Screw off! You're joking, right?"

Forms of screw off

third-person singular presentscrews off
present participlescrewing off
past participlescrewed off
pastscrewed off

Questions about screw off

What does screw off mean?
Screw off means to remove the lid of a jar or other container by unscrewing it.
What part of speech is screw off?
Screw off can be a verb or an interjection.
What is the past tense of screw off?
The past tense of screw off is screwed off.

Words near screw off in the dictionary

  1. screw loose
  2. screw machine
  3. screw machines
  4. screw nail
  5. screw nails
  6. screw off
  7. screw over
  8. screw palm
  9. screw palms
  10. screw peg
  11. screw pegs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: screw off (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-au-screw off.ogg.

Cite this entry: “screw off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/screw_off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.