1891. Sporting Life, 25 Mar. The piece, which is of the screaming order of farce, certainly produces abundant laughter.
1893. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 77. Yank on to one gal, a fair screamer.
2. (thieves').—A thief who, robbed by another thief, applies to the police; in American a squealer (q.v.).
Screech, subs. (common).—Whiskey:
see Old Man's Milk.
Screecher, subs. (colloquial).—Anything
harsh or strident.
Hence screechy = loud mouthed.
Screed. Screed o' drink, subs.
phr. (Scots').—1. A full supply;
whence (2) a drinking bout.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxv. Naething confuses one, unless it be a screed o'drink at an oration.
Screen, subs. (old).—A bank note
(Grose, Vaux). Hence screen-faking
= fingering notes; queer
screens = counterfeit paper: cf.
screeve.
1821. Egan, Life in London, II. v. Vy, it's full of pot-hooks and hangers—and not a screen [£1 note] in it.
1830. Moncrieff, Heart of London, II. 1. A little screen-faking, that's all.
1834. Ainsworth, Roodwood, 'Nix my Dolly.' Readily the queer screens I then could smash.
1840. Lytton, Paul Clifford, xxxi. Stretched for smashing queer screens.
Screeve (or Screave), subs. (old).
1. Anything written: a begging
letter, a testimonial, chalk pavement
work, &c. Also (2) a bank
note (Scots): cf. screen;
Screeveton = the Bank of England.
As verb. = to write, or
draw; screever (or screeve-faker)
= (1) a cheeky beggar
(Grose, Vaux), and spec. (2) a
pavement-'artist.'
1821. Haggart, Life, 25. The screaves were in his benjy cloy.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., I. 339. Professional beggars are . . . those who 'do it on the blob' (by word of mouth), and those who do it by screeving, that is, by petitions and letters. Ibid. I. 341. Such a 'fakement' [a begging petition, &c.], put into the hands of an experienced lurker, will bring the 'amanuensis,' or screever, two guineas at least, and the proceeds of such an expedition have in many cases averaged £60 per week. Ibid., I. 542. His chief practice was screeving or writing on the pavement. Ibid. (1862), IV. 442. The next screeve takes the form of a resolution at a public meeting.
1857. Punch, 31 Jan., 49. It's agin the rules is screevin' to pals out o' gaol.
1866. London Miscellany, 3 Mar., 57. "You'd better be a screever if they ask you," said he. "That'll account for your hands, you know." "You mean a begging-letter writer?"
1883. Punch, 14 July, 13, 2. Here is a brilliant opening for merry old Academicians, festive flagstone screevers, and "distinguished amateurs."
1884. World, 16 April, 15, 1. A correspondent writes: "Apropos of screever . . . does it get its derivation from the Italian scrivere, to write?"
1887. Henley, Villon's Straight Tip, 1. Suppose you screeve or go cheap-jack.
1889. Answers, 27 July, 136, 2. A list of subscribers to a charity is carefully cut out by the screevers and studied. Ibid. A clerk is frequently called a screever, but a screever proper (or improper) is such a remarkable person.
Screw, subs. (colloquial).—1. An
extortioner; a miser. As verb.
= to coerce into paying or saving
money, or making a promise,
yielding one's opinion, vote,
person, &c.: also to screw up
(or out), and to put on (or
under or turn) the screw
(B. E., Grose); screwy (or
screwing) = mean.
c. 1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Screw, to screw one up, to exact upon one, or Squeeze one in a Bargain or Reckoning.
