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 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.