squeeze

From earlier squize, squise (whence also dialectal English squizzen and squeege), first attested around 1600, probably an alteration of quease (which is attested since 1550), from Middle English queisen (“to squeeze”), from Old English cwēsan, cwȳsan (“to crush, squeeze”), of unknown origin, perhaps imitative (compare Swedish qväsa, kväsa (“to squeeze, bruise, crush; quell”), Dutch kwetsen (“to injure, hurt”), German quetschen (“to squeeze”)). Compare also French esquicher from Old Occitan esquichar (“to press, squeeze”). The slang expression "to put the squeeze on (someone or something)", meaning "to exert influence", is from 1711. The baseball term "squeeze play" is first recorded 1905. "Main squeeze" ("most important person") is attested from 1896, the specific meaning "one's sweetheart, lover" is attested by 1980.

• IPA^(key): /skwiːz/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːz

squeeze (third-person singular simple present squeezes, present participle squeezing, simple past and past participle squeezed)

1. (transitive) To apply pressure to from two or more sides at once.

   I squeezed the ball between my hands.

   Please don't squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle.

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1:

     "Over there—by the rock," Steele muttered, with his brush between his teeth, squeezing out raw sienna, and keeping his eyes fixed on Betty Flanders's back.

2. (transitive) To embrace closely; to give a tight hug to.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To fit into a tight place.

   I managed to squeeze the car into that parking space.

   Can you squeeze through that gap?

   • 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC‎:

     It was an omen of things to come as in the 56th minute the visitors took the lead after a mix-up between Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos allowed Ebanks-Blake's through-ball to squeeze between them.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

     Could he not squeeze under the seat of a carriage? He had seen this method adopted by schoolboys, when the journey- money provided by thoughtful parents had been diverted to other and better ends.

4. (transitive) To remove something with difficulty, or apparent difficulty.

   He squeezed some money out of his wallet.

5. (transitive) To put in a difficult position by presenting two or more choices.

   I'm being squeezed between my job and my volunteer work.

   • 2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, "British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party," New York Times (retrieved 29 May 2013):

     At a time when Mr. Cameron is being squeezed from both sides — from the right by members of his own party and by the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, and from the left by his Liberal Democrat coalition partners — the move seemed uncharacteristically clunky.

6. (transitive, figuratively) To oppress with hardships, burdens, or taxes; to harass.
   • L'Estrange

     In a civil war, people must expect to be crushed and squeezed toward the burden.

7. (transitive, baseball) To attempt to score a runner from third by bunting.

   Jones squeezed in Smith with a perfect bunt.

• (to apply pressure to from two or more sides at once): compress, condense; see also Thesaurus:compress

squeeze (plural squeezes)

1. A close or tight fit.
2. (figuratively) A difficult position.

   I'm in a tight squeeze right now when it comes to my free time.

3. A hug or other affectionate grasp.

   a gentle squeeze on the arm

4. (slang) A romantic partner.

   I want to be your main squeeze.

   • 2012, J. Lamar, Tip Tap Toe, Xlibris Corporation (→ISBN), page 141:

     His young squeeze had just backed out and had not seen the assault on her “ sugar daddy” when it happened!

   • 1988, James Ellroy, Dudley Smith Trio: The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, White Jazz, Random House (→ISBN), page 459:

     He spent nights cruising queer bars near the pad, saw Wiltsie at the dives, but always in the company of his squeeze, a guy he called 'Duane.'

   • 2014, N. Lombardi Jr., Journey Towards a Falling Sun, John Hunt Publishing (→ISBN)

     But even considering that, he might have been a bit more restrained if he hadn't run into his former sexy squeeze, Penny Atieno.

5. (slang) An illicit alcoholic drink made by squeezing Sterno through cheesecloth, etc., and mixing the result with fruit juice.
6. (baseball) The act of bunting in an attempt to score a runner from third.

   The game ended in exciting fashion with a failed squeeze.

7. (card games) A play that forces an opponent to discard a card that gives up one or more tricks.
8. (caving) A traversal of a narrow passage.

   It was a tight squeeze, but I got through to the next section of the cave.

   • 2003, Barbara Hurd, “The Squeeze”, in Entering the Stone: On Caves and Feeling through the Dark, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 11:

     The most notorious squeezes have names: the Gun Barrel, Jam Crack, the Electric Armpit Crawl, Devil's Pinch.

   • 2016, Diego Rodriguez, The Caver: Dig ... But Not to Far, Munich: BookRix, →ISBN:

     Prior to going back out to Mystery Cave again we spent a lot of time preparing. We made a squeeze box, which is a wooden box the opening of which can be adjusted in size. We could then crawl through the opening and measure to see how tight of a squeeze we could fit through.

9. (epigraphy) An impression of an inscription formed by pressing wet paper onto the surface and peeling off when dry.

   The light not being good enough for photography, I took a squeeze of the stone.

10. (mining) The gradual closing of workings by the weight of the overlying strata.
11. (dated) A bribe or fee paid to a middleman, especially in China; the practice of requiring such a bribe or fee.
    • A. R. Colquhoun

      one of the many "squeezes" imposed by the mandarins

• squash
• squeegee
• squish
• squoze
• squozen
• margin squeeze