screwball

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screw·ball

(skro͞o′bôl′)

1. Baseball A pitched ball that curves in the direction opposite to that of a normal curve ball.

2. Slang An eccentric, impulsively whimsical, or irrational person.

adj. Slang

Impulsively whimsical; eccentric: That screwball proposal won't work.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

screwball

(ˈskruːˌbɔːl)

an odd or eccentric person

adj

odd; zany; eccentric

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

screw•ball

(ˈskruˌbɔl)

n.

1. Slang. an eccentric or wildly whimsical person; a kook.

2. a pitched baseball that veers toward the side from which it was thrown, counter to the motion of a curve ball.

adj.

3. Slang. eccentric or whimsical: screwball ideas.

[1925–30, Amer.]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	screwball - a whimsically eccentric person crackpot, fruitcake, nut case, crank, nut eccentric, eccentric person, oddball, flake, geek - a person with an unusual or odd personality
	2.	screwball - a pitch with reverse spin that curves toward the side of the plate from which it was thrown pitch, delivery - (baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter
Adj.	1.	screwball - foolish; totally unsound; "a crazy scheme"; "half-baked ideas"; "a screwball proposal without a prayer of working" half-baked, softheaded, crazy colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech impractical - not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters; "refloating the ship proved impractical because of the expense"; "he is intelligent but too impractical for commercial work"; "an impractical solution"

screwball

noun

Slang. A person regarded as strange, eccentric, or crazy:

crackpot, crazy, eccentric, lunatic.

Informal: crank, loon, loony.

Slang: cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, kook, nut, weirdie, weirdo.

adjective

Slang. Deviating from the customary:

bizarre, cranky, curious, eccentric, erratic, freakish, idiosyncratic, odd, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, singular, strange, unnatural, unusual, weird.

Slang: kooky.

British Slang: rum, rummy.

Translations

mattoide

screwball

[ˈskruːbɔːl] (esp US)

A. ADJ → excéntrico, estrafalario

B. N → chiflado/a m/f, chalado/a m/f, tarado/a m/f (esp LAm)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

screwball

[ˈskruːbɔːl]

modif [comedy] → délirant(e)

n → doux dingue (douce)m/fscrew cap n → couvercle m qui se visse

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

screwball

[ˈskruːˌbɔːl] (fam) (esp Am)

1. n → testa matta, svitato/a

1. adj → mezzo matto/a, svitato/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in periodicals archive ?

Originally titled Something's Got To Give, this remake of a '40s screwball comedy had been intended to give Marilyn Monroe's career a comeback kick, but she was fired from the production in 1962.

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is the Coen brothers' screwball valentine to the golden age of film-making.

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He noted that the team's pictures were meant as screwball comedies set to song and dance.

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See legendary Hollywood actors Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert exchange cutting comic barbs and romantic sparks in the 1934 film "It Happened One Night." The five-time Academy Award-winning screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra is screened Monday at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E.

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Cathleen Schine, a New York Times reviewer, praised the novel as"a gently spiritual celebration of life, a dark and thoroughly grim depiction of despair, a screwball comedy, a screwball tragedy."

NOTEWORTHY PAPERBACKS

The Front Page is markedly different, a screwball comedy about journalism, but it's long overdue for a return.

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Opens Friday A screwball comedy with Greta Gerwig as Maggie, who falls for married John (Ethan Hawke).

Films

"The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd" is an authoritative new biography that traces Todd's life from a vivacious little girl who tried to assuage her parents' grief over her brother's death, to an aspiring teacher turned reluctant beauty queen, to an outspoken movie starlet and restaurateur.

The Ice Cream Blonde

The cast of screwball Jane Austen thriller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" gleefully reunited to sing the film's praises.

'Zombies' premiere

EVEN the very best actors make bad decisions, but seeing the usually terrific Kate Winslet stooping to star in a screwball comedy this duff truly takes your breath away.

THE DRESSMAKER (12A)

THE DRESSMAKER (12A) EVEN the very best actors make bad decisions, but seeing the usually terrific Kate Winslet stooping to star in a screwball comedy this duff truly takes your breath away.