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Jimmy Hung
2022-01-12 01:01
Turn the screw(s) (on someone) informal phrase
If you turn the screws on someone, you compel them to do something by intimidating them.
If we don't turn the screw on this guy, I'm afraid he won't pay his debt to us.
John claimed that the police turned the screws on him to plead guilty.
After hours of turning the screws on the suspect, he finally confessed.
1. To make someone do something using force or threats
2. To intentionally underperform to deceive and take advantage of someon
The verb "turn" must be conjugated according to its tense.
This phrase is a reference to a method of torture called the thumbscrew. The prisoner's thumbs were pressed between two bars of iron which were then tightened by means of a screw.
Do you see anything wrong?
People tend to like forbidden or illegal things just because they are forbidden or illegal.
He must have believed that stolen fruit is the sweetest, and he, therefore, cheated on his partner.
