Etymology

screwtape

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Today it means: To mess things up, to corrupt, to be devilish. Full definition →

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screwtape · verb1

In reference to the C. S. Lewis book The Screwtape Letters (1942), about an inexperienced demon sent to tempt a man to sin, from screw + tape.

screwtape · noun2

After DJ Screw, the Houston Southsider who produced the tapes.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.