Link Centre Dictionary

screwball

screw·ball

UK/ˈskɹuːbɔːl/ US/ˈskruˌbɔl/ rare informal us
noun (2) adjective (1)

noun

1.
2.

a pitch with reverse spin that curves toward the side of the plate from which it was thrown

adjective

1.

foolish; totally unsound

  • “an impractical solution”
  • “a crazy scheme”
  • “half-baked ideas”
  • “a screwball proposal without a prayer of working”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From screw + ball. Compare typologically German Spinner (akin to spin). Also compare weirdo and weird, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, to spin”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.