turn of the screw

English

Noun

turn of the screw (plural turns of the screw)

1. One step in a gradual imposition of restrictions.
   • 1980, New Scientist, volume 88, number 1226, page 348:

     There is every chance that as far as the government's budget cutting goes, the next turn of the screw will see the SRC squeezed, despite the fact that the council has, quite rightly, been spared from the worst of the earlier cuts.