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corkscrew

UK/ˈkɔːk.skɹuː/US/ˈkɔɹk.skɹu/
nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,910 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: corkscrews

A corkscrew is the twisting tool that pulls the stopper out of a wine bottle. Use a corkscrew, a waiter's corkscrew, no corkscrew.

The spiral must be an open helix around empty space rather than a solid screw, or it will tear the cork instead of gripping it. The waiter's friend, with its hinged lever, does the job with least effort. Corkscrew also describes anything twisting like one.

Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of corkscrew

  1. 1nouncorkscrewThe twisting tool that pulls the stopper out of a wine bottle.B1+

    “We couldn't open the wine because nobody had brought a corkscrew.”

    • Said"Has anyone got a corkscrew? I'm not opening this with a shoe."
    • WrittenThe corkscrews lived in the drawer with the string and the dead batteries.
    • UsedTwist the corkscrew straight down the middle, then lever, never yank.
    • ContrastA corkscrew, not a knife. A knife pushes the stopper in; a corkscrew pulls it out whole. knife →
    • Not thisA bottle opener is not a corkscrew. One lifts a metal cap; the other twists into a plug.
    • SimplyUse the corkscrew. Open the wine.

    Patternuse a corkscrew · a waiter's corkscrew · corkscrew curls · corkscrew staircase

corkscrew is a tool.

Remember it

CORK-SCREW → a SCREW for the CORK

A screw for the cork: turn it into the cork, pull, and the bottle opens with a pop.

hooks ontocorkscrew

Where it comes from

From cork + screw.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in In the Kitchen

Practise this word

corkscrew in the wild

  • In 1975, designers from Arrow Development created the corkscrew, reviving interest in the inversion during the modern age of steel roller coasters.

    Roller coaster inversion

  • A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks.

    Corkscrew

  • Ringlets are often also known as princess hair or corkscrews.

    Ringlet (haircut)

  • After being sold as the prototype, this corkscrew originally operated at Knott's Berry Farm from 1975 to 1989.

    Corkscrew (Silverwood)

  • Instead of slow descent towards the airport, in a corkscrew landing the aircraft is positioned at high altitude above the airport, then descends rapidly in a spiral.

    Corkscrew landing

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.