screwface

English

Etymology

Compound of screw +‎ face.

Noun

screwface (plural screwfaces)

1. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A contorted facial expression of anger, frustration, or aggression.

   Synonym: grimace

   • 2005, Tracy M. Bush, A Blues for Mary, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 134:

     “Oh, and tell your girl to stop giving me the screwface.”

   • 2011, Alvin Glen Edwards, Once in an Island, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 38:

     She put on a screwface—an unfriendly facial contortion that denotes anger and frustration—then broke into the chant of a popular reggae protest song.

   • 2014, George Vecsey, Eight World Cups: My Journey through the Beauty and Dark Side of Soccer, Times Books, →ISBN, page 249:

     Klinsmann had to know from observing the cranky screwface Dempsey displayed in public that this was no moonbeam of a player.

Derived terms

• screwfaced (adjective)

 

Verb

screwface (third-person singular simple present screwfaces, present participle screwfacing, simple past and past participle screwfaced)

1. (intransitive, transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To make a screwface (at someone).
   • 2020, Gabriel Krauze, Who They Was, London: 4th Estate, →ISBN, page 113:

     When it’s done, I leave the lecture theatre screwfacing anyone who tries watching me and they look away quicktime and no one says nothing.

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “screwface n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
• “screwface”, in The Right Rhymes, launched 2013.