v. 1 press, compress, compact, crush, squash, wring, pinch, nip, grip, tweak Each morning Anne squeezes an orange to make fresh juice for Edgar Everyone knows that squeezing the nose between the thumb and forefinger means that something smells. 2 extract, wrest, exact, extort, milk, wrench, pry (out), tear, Colloq bleed It is doubtful that they will be able to squeeze a contribution out of old Scrooge 3 milk, Colloq shake down, bleed, lean on, put the screws to, put the squeeze on, twist (someone's) arm, US put the arm on You'll have to squeeze Fletcher if you want to get paid 4 ram, jam, pack, stuff, cram, crowd, force, press, wedge We were squeezed into the train so tightly that I could hardly breathe 5 clasp, clench, embrace, hug, hold, enfold, fold, clutch, Archaic clip She squeezed him close as they bade goodbye 6 squeeze through or by. get through or by, pass, (barely) succeed, Colloq squeak through or by, (barely) make it He managed to squeeze through the exam with a pass mark, but it was touch-and-go
n. 7 clasp, embrace, hug, clutch, Colloq clinch She gave me a little squeeze to signal her affection 8 pressure I was beginning to feel the squeeze between inflation and high interest rates 9 crush, jam, crowd, squash, press There was such a squeeze of people at the sale that I couldn't get in 10 girlfriend, mistress, sweetheart, Colloq sweetie, Slang moll, broad, Archaic doxy Willie showed up with his current squeeze 11 put the squeeze on. press, bring pressure to bear on, urge, influence, Brit pressurize, US pressure The bank was beginning to put the squeeze on me to repay my overdraft