/ skwiːz; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
PRESS WITH FINGERS
1.
to press sth firmly, especially with your fingers :
[ vn ]
to squeeze a tube of toothpaste
to squeeze the trigger of a gun (= to fire it)
He squeezed her hand and smiled at her.
[ v ]
Just take hold of the tube and squeeze.
GET LIQUID OUT
2.
squeeze sth (out of / from sth) | squeeze sth (out) to get liquid out of sth by pressing or twisting it hard :
[ vn ]
to squeeze the juice from a lemon
He took off his wet clothes and squeezed the water out.
freshly squeezed orange juice
( figurative )
She felt as if every drop of emotion had been squeezed from her.
[also vn - adj ]
INTO / THROUGH SMALL SPACE
3.
squeeze (sb/sth) into, through, etc. sth | squeeze through, in, past, etc. to force sb/sth/yourself into or through a small space :
[ vn ]
We managed to squeeze six people into the car.
( figurative )
We managed to squeeze a lot into a week (= we did a lot of different things) .
[ v ]
to squeeze into a tight dress / a parking space
to squeeze through a gap in the hedge
If you move forward a little, I can squeeze past.
THREATEN
4.
[ vn ] squeeze sb (for sth) ( informal ) to get sth by putting pressure on sb, threatening them, etc. :
He's squeezing me for £500.
LIMIT MONEY
5.
[ vn ] to strictly limit or reduce the amount of money that sb/sth has or can use :
High interest rates have squeezed the industry hard.
•
IDIOMS
- squeeze sb dry
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- squeeze sb/sth in
- squeeze sb/sth out (of sth)
- squeeze sth out of / from sb
- squeeze up (against sb/sth) | squeeze sb up (against sb/sth)
■ noun
PRESSING WITH FINGERS
1.
[ C , usually sing. ] an act of pressing sth, usually with your hands :
He gave my hand a little squeeze.
Give the tube another squeeze.
OF LIQUID
2.
[ C ] a small amount of liquid that is produced by pressing sth :
a squeeze of lemon juice
IN SMALL SPACE
3.
[ sing. ] a situation where it is almost impossible for a number of people or things to fit into a small or restricted space :
It was a tight squeeze but we finally got everything into the case.
Seven people in the car was a bit of a squeeze.
REDUCTION IN MONEY
4.
[ C , usually sing. ] a reduction in the amount of money, jobs, etc. available; a difficult situation caused by this :
a squeeze on profits
We're really feeling the squeeze since I lost my job.
a credit squeeze
BOYFRIEND / GIRLFRIEND
5.
[ sing. ] ( informal , especially NAmE ) a boyfriend or girlfriend :
Who's his main squeeze ?
•
IDIOMS
- put the squeeze on sb (to do sth)
••
WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent.: from earlier squise , from obsolete queise , of unknown origin.