Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
SCREW, n.2 Also scrow. A freshwater shrimp, Gammarusor Niphargus (Lnk.,Rxb. 1950); “also occasionally applied to some of the aquatic larvae of flies and beetles, esp.to the larva of the Dytiscus marginalis” (Sc. 1808 Jam., scrow). Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1834 J. Hamilton Mem. J. Wilson (1859) 186:
We found their interior crammed full of screws, or fresh-water shrimps.s.Sc. 1938 Border Mag. (Feb.) 30:
Do you mind the ‘screws' in the Burn? Queer crusty kind o' things that looked like insects but lived in below the water.
