screwing up

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To tighten or secure with screws.
2. (transitive) To raise by turning a rotary handle.
   • A crunch on the gravel brought me back to the present. A triffid came swaying down the drive toward the gate. I leaned across and screwed up the window.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 78
3. (transitive) To raise (rent, fees, etc.) to extortionate levels.
   • As far as was possible he kept his subjects as mindless fighting-cocks, troops that could be promised to one power if there was a chance of screwing up another power to a bigger subsidy.1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 1052
4. (transitive) To raise or summon up.
   • trying to screw up enough courage to ask her out
5. (transitive) To twist into a contorted state.
   • The baby screwed up his face and began to bawl.
6. (dated, transitive) To squint.
   • As they were finishing breakfast came the postman with a letter from Derby. Mrs. Morel screwed up her eyes to look at the address.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 8”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

See all 8 meanings of screw up