Screeve, a letter, a begging petition.
Screeve, to write, or devise; “to SCREEVE a fakement,” to concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor’s document. From the Dutch, SCHRYVEN; German, SCHREIBEN, to write.
Screever, a man who draws with coloured chalks on the pavement figures of our Saviour crowned with thorns, specimens of elaborate writing, thunderstorms, ships on fire, &c. The men who attend these pavement chalkings, and receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers of street art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist or SCREEVER draws, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places in the course of a morning, and rents the spots out to as many cadaverous-looking men, who, when any one looks hard at them, will commence to dabble clumsily with the short pieces of chalks they always keep at hand. There are impostors of this kind in higher walks of art.
Screw, an unsound or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along. So called from the screw-like manner in which his ribs generally show through the skin.
Screw, a mean or stingy person.
Screw, salary, or wages.
Screw, “to put on the SCREW,” to limit one’s credit, to be more exact and precise; “to put under the SCREW;” to compel, to coerce, to influence by strong pressure.
Screw, a small packet of tobacco. A “twist” of the “weed.”
Screw, a key—skeleton, or otherwise.