long screwdriver

noun

Interference (usually in military matters) by politicians.

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Meanings

nounlong screwdriver (plural long screwdrivers)

plural long screwdrivers

  1. idiomaticInterference (usually in military matters) by politicians.

    The telegraph, telephone, and then radio made it easier for governments to intervene in the conduct of military operations, inserting that 'long screwdriver' so resented by modern commanders.

    2009, Richard Holmes, Churchill's Bunker: The Cabinet War Rooms and the Culture of Secrecy in Wartime London, Yale University Press
Cite this entry
APA

long screwdriver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20screwdriver

MLA

“long screwdriver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20screwdriver. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “long screwdriver,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/long%20screwdriver.

Source: long screwdriver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.