Screw (A)

meaning a small quantity, is in allusion to the habit of putting a small quantity of small articles into a “screw of paper.”

An old screw. One who keeps his money tight, and doles it out in screws or small quantities.

To put on the screw. To press for payment, as a screw presses by gradually-increasing pressure.

Raised your screw. Raised your wages.

“‘Has Tom got his screw raised?ʹ said Milton.”—Truth: Queer Story, 18th February, 1886.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.