squeeze 
squeeze, < AS. cieenaii, ctcysrm, <<*< (in comp. 
to-ewysan, to-cwesan), crush ; of. Sw. qriixit, 
squeeze, bruise; D. kwetseii = MHG. quetz<-n, 
Q. quetschen, G. dial, quetzal, crush, squash, 
bruise ; MLG. quotient, qiicttern, squash, bruise ; 
Goth, kicintjaii, destroy; Lith. yniszti, destroy.] 
1. trans. 1. To press forcibly; subject to strong 
pressure ; exert pressure upon : as, to squeeze a 
sponge ; hence, to bruise or crush by the appli- 
cation of pressure : as, to squeeze one's fingers 
in a vise; apply force or pressure to for the 
purpose of extracting something : as, to squeeze 
a lemon. 
O Phylax, spare 
My squeezed Soul, least from herself she start 
Loose, loose the Buckle ! if the time be come 
That I must die, at least afford me room. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. 206. 
The people submit quietly when their governor squeezes 
their purses. Pococlce, Description of the East, II. i. 151. 
The ingredients for punch were all in readiness ; but 
no one would squeeze the oranges till he came. 
Fielding, Joseph Andrews, i. 13. 
2. To press in sympathy or affection, or as a 
silent indication of interest or emotion: as, to 
squeeze one's hand. 
He is said to be the first that made love by squeezing 
the hand. Steele, Spectator, No. 109. 
With my left hand I took her right did she squeeze 
it? I think she did. 
Thackeray, Fitz- Boodle Papers, Dorothea. 
3. To produce or procure by the application of 
pressure; express; extract: usually with out: 
as, to squeeze consent from an official. 
Qveise out the Jus. JteKq. Antiq., I. 802. 
When day appeared, ... I began againe to squise out 
the matter [from a wound], & to annoint it with a litle 
salue which I had. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 146. 
He [Canute] xquees'd out of the English, though now 
his subjects, not his Enemies, 72, some say 82, thousand 
pound. Milton, Hist. Eng., vl. 
They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of a sloe, and draw 
Champagne from an apple. Addison, Tatler, No. 131. 
4. To thrust forcibly; force: with into, or other 
similar adjunct: as, to squeeze a gown into a 
box. 
He [Webster] has not the condensing power of Shake- 
speare, who squeezed meaning into a phrase with an hy- 
draulic press. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 818. 
Schneider had provided himself at the Greenland ports 
with the entire costume of the Eskimo belle, and, being a 
small man, was able to squeeze himself into the gaiiuents. 
A. W. Oreely, Arctic Service, p. 176. 
5. To harass or oppress by exactions or the 
like. 
The little officers oppress the people ; the great officers 
squeeze them. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 171. 
The whole convict system is a money-making affair; . . . 
they all just naturally squeeze the convict. 
The Century, XL. 22L 
6. To obtain a facsimile impression of on paper, 
by means of water and rubbing or beating. See 
squeeze, n., 3. 
But the overhang of the rock makes it extremely diffi- 
cult to squeeze satisfactorily. Athenieum, No. 3284, p. 455. 
Squeezed-ln vessel, a vessel of pottery or glass whose 
form indicates that it has been pressed in on opposite 
sides, as if nipped by the fingers. It is a common form 
in Roman glass bottles ; and many Japanese flasks of stone- 
ware also have this shape. 
II. intratts. 1. To press; press, push, or 
force one's way through or into some tight, 
narrow, or crowded place ; pass by pressing or 
pushing. 
Many a public minister comes empty in ; but, when he 
has crammed his guts, he is fain to squeeze hard before he 
can get off. Sir R. L'Estrange. 
2. To pass (through a body) under the appli- 
cation of pressure. 
A concave sphere of gold filled with water, and sodered 
up, has, upon pressing the sphere with great force let the 
water squeeze through it and stand all over its outside in 
multitudes of small drops like dew, without bursting or 
cracking the body of the gold. 
Newton, Opticks, ii. 3, prop. 8. 
Squeeze (skwez), . [< squeeze, r.] 1. Pres- 
sure, or an application of pressure ; a hug or 
embrace; a friendly, sympathetic, or loving 
grasp : as, a squeeze of the hand. 
Had a very affectionate squeeze by the hand, and a fine 
compliment in a corner. Gray, Letters, I. 239. 
The Squire shook him heartily by the hand, and con- 
gratulated him on his safe arrival at Headlong Hall The 
doctor returned the squeeze, and assured him that the 
congratulation was by no means misapplied. 
Peacock, Headlong Hall, iii. 
5880 
3. A cast or an impression, as of an inscrip- 
tion or a coin, produced by forcing some plastic 
material into the hollows' or depressions of the 
surface ; especially, such a facsimile or impres- 
sion made by applying sheets of wet unsized 
paper to the object to be copied, and thorough- 
ly passing over the sheets with light blows of 
a stiff brush, so as to force the paper into every 
inequality. The paper, upon drying, hardens, yielding 
a perfect and durable negative, or reversed copy, of the 
original. This method is employed by archaeologists for 
securing faithful transcripts of ancient inscriptions. 
It is to him that we owe the copies and squeezes of the 
Nabathean inscriptions. Contemporary Rev., LJV. 302. 
Armed, therefore, with a stock of photographic plates, 
and with the far more essential stock of paper for making 
moulds or squeezes from the stone, I began work on the 
temples of Thebes. Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 297. 
squeezer (skwe'zer), n. [< squeeze + -f> -1 .] 1. 
One who or that which squeezes. Specifically 
(a) In iron-working, a machine eniployed in getting the 
puddled ball into shape, or shingling it, without hammer- 
ing. (See puddling.) Squeezers are of two kinds, recipro- 
cating and rotary. The essential feature of the recipro- 
cating fonn is that a movable arm or lever works against 
a corresponding fixed jaw, the former representing the 
2. Crush; crowding. 
The pah- of MacWhirters journeyed from Tours, . 
and, after four and-twenty hours of squeeze in the dili- 
gence, presented themselves at nightfall at Madame 
Smolensk's. Thackeray, Philip, xxvi. 
Rotary Squeezer. 
it, ridged eccentric casing ; f>, ridged roller. The ball of metal enters 
at ' , in the direction shown by the arrow, and emerges at e '. 
hammer, the latter the anvil, of the old method of shin- 
gling with the hammer. In the rotary squeezer the pud- 
dled ball is brought into shape by being passed between a 
cast-Iron cylinder and a cylindrical casing, the former 
being placed eccentrically within the latter so that the 
distance between their surfaces gradually diminishes in 
the direction of the rotation. The ball, being introduced 
at the widest part of the opening, is carried forward and 
finally delivered at the narrower end, reduced in size and 
ready for rolling. (6) In sheet-metal working, a crimping- 
machine for forcing the tops and covers of tin cans over 
the cylinders which form the sides of the cans, (c) A 
lemon-squeezer. 
2. pi. A kind of playing-cards in which the face- 
value of each card is shown in the upper left- 
hand corner, and can readily be seen by squeez- 
ing the cards slightly apart, without displaying 
the hand Alligator squeezer. Same as crocodile 
squeezer. Crocodile squeezer, a peculiar form of squeez- 
er, having a long projecting upper jaw armed with teeth. 
It is used in the manufacture of iron, 
squeezing (skwe'zing), n. [Verbal n. of squeeze, 
v.] 1. The act of pressing; compression. 2. 
That which is forced out by or as by pressure; 
hence, oppressive exaction. 
The dregs and squeezing! of the brain. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 607. 
squeezing-box (skwe'zing-boks), . In ceram., 
a cylinder of metal, through an opening in the 
bottom of which plastic clay is forced in a 
continuous ribbon of any desired section, to 
form lugs, handles, etc. 
squeezyt, a. See squeasy. 
squelch (skwelch), n. [Formerly also squelsh ; 
prob. a var., with intensive prefix s-, of E. dial. 
qneleh, a blow, bang.] A crushing blow; a 
heavy fall. [Colloq.] 
But Ralpho, who had now begun 
T' adventure resurrection 
From heavy squelch, and had got up. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 933. 
squelch (skwelch), *>. [See squelch, n.'] I. trans. 
1. To crush down; stamp on as if squeezing 
out something liquid ; put an end to. [Colloq. J 
'Sfoot, this Fat Bishop hath so overlaid me, 
So tquelch'd and squeezed me. 
Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 
Here, all about the fields, is the wild carrot. You cut 
off its head, just before it seeds, and you think you have 
squelched it; but this is just what Nature . . . wanted 
you to do. J. Burroughs, The Century, XIX. 688. 
2. To disconcert ; discomfit; put down. [Col- 
loq.] 
Luke glanced shamefaced at the nosegay in his button- 
hole, and was squelched. 
J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 120. 
II. iutrans. To be crushed. [Colloq.] 
squid 
squelet, r. A Middle English form of .n/imil. 
squelert, squeleryt, . Middle English forms 
of xfuller", xi'/il/i >//. 
squench (skwench), r. t. [A var., with inten- 
sive prefix s-, of quench.'] To quench. Beau. 
mid I'l. [Obsolete or vulgar.] 
squerelt, squerrelt, squerrilt, Obsolete 
forms of xi/nii'i'i I. 
Squeteague (skwe-teg'), n. [Also sqm !<<; mini- 
tee, squit; of Amer. Ind. origin.] A salt-water 
sciffinoid fish, ('unoscion ret/alia (formerly Oto- 
lillnin rfi/<ili.i), also called weakjisli, sea-salmon, 
aud sea-trout in common with some other mem- 
bers of the same genus. It is silvery, darker above, 
with many irregular, small, d;trk blotches tending to form 
oblique undulating bars. It is common from Cape Cod 
southward, and is a valued food-fish. A more distinctly 
marked fish of this kind is C. maculxtus, the spotted 
squeteague, weakfish, or sea-trout, of more southerly dis- 
tribution. See Cynoscion, and cut under weakfish. 
squib (skwib), v. ; pret. aud pp. st/uiblied, ppr. 
ti/niltbing. [A var. of *squip, < ME. sqmpptu, 
a var. of swip (ME. swippen), move swiftly, 
sweep, dash: see swip, swipe.] I. intraus. 1. 
To move swiftly and irregularly. 
A battered unmarried beau, who squibs about from place 
to place. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Ixxxviii. 
2. [< squib, n., 3.] To make a slight, sharp re- 
port, like that of an exploding squib. 3. [< 
squib, n., 4.] To resort to the use of squibs, or 
petty lampoons. 
II. trans. 1. To throw (in or out) suddenly; 
explode. 
Thou wouldst neutr squib out any new Salt-petre 
lestes against honest Tucca. 
Dekker, Humorous Poet (Works, ed. Pearson, I. 235). 
lie [Mr. Brian Twyne] squibs in this parenthesis. 
Fuller, Hist. Cambridge University, i. 52. 
2. [< squib, n., 4.] To attack in squibs ; lam- 
poon. 
squib (skwib), w. [(squib, r.] 1. A ball or tube 
filled with gunpowder, sent or fired swiftly 
through the air or along the ground, exploding 
somewhat like a rocket. 
Like a Squib it falls, 
Or ftre-wingd shaft, or sulph'ry Powder Balls. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2. 
Nor nimble squib is seen to make afeard 
The gentlewomen. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, Prol. 
So squibs and crackers fly into the air, 
Then.-only breaking with a noise, they vanish 
In stench and smoke. Ford, Broken Heart, ii. 2. 
2. A reed, rush, quill, or roll of paper filled 
with a priming of gunpowder; a tube of some 
kind used to set off a charge of gunpowder, as 
at the bottom of a drill-hole. Also called mote, 
train, and match. 3. A fire-cracker, espe- 
cially one broken in the middle so that when 
it is fired the charge explodes without a loud 
report. 4. A petty lampoon; a short satirical 
writing or sketch holding up a person or thing 
to ridicule. 
Allowing that . . . [the play] succeeds, there are a 
hundred squibs flying all abroad to prove that it should not 
have succeeded. Goldsmith, Polite Learning, x. 
5f. One who writes lampoons or squibs; a petty 
satirist ; a paltry, trifling fellow. 
The fiiuilm are those who, in the common phrase of the 
word, are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers. 
Steele, Tatler, No. 88. 
6. A kind of cheap taffy, made of treacle. 
And there we had a shop, too, for lollipops and squibs. 
Hood, Lines by a Schoolboy. 
squibbisb. (skwib'ish), a. [< squib + -is* 1 .] 
Flashy; light. T. Mace, Music's Monument. 
(Davies.) 
squid (skwid), n. [Origin unknown.] 1. A 
kind of cuttlefish or calamary ; a dibranchiate 
cephalopod with ten arms, especially of the 
family Loliaini<i?e or Teuthididie. The name is 
most frequently given to the small, slender calamaries. 
a few inches long and with a caudal fin, which are much 
ued as bait, but is extended (with or without a qualifying 
term) to many other species of different genera and fami- 
lies, some of which, as the giant squids, are the largest 
of cephalopods. See cuts under Architeuthis, calamary, 
Desmoteuthis, Lolifiiuidte, Sepiola, and Spirula. and com* 
pare those under Dibranchiata, cuttlefish, and Sepia. 
2. An artificial bait or lure of metal, ivory, 
etc., used in angling or trolling for fish, often 
simply a fish-hook on the shank of which a mass 
of lead is melted in cylindrical or tapering form 
to imitate a squid (def. 1). False squids, the Loli- 
gopsidie. Flying squids, the Ommastrephidse. Giant 
squids, the very large cephalopods of the genus Archi- 
teuthis, as A. harveyi of the Atlantic coast of North Amer- 
ica, among those called devil Ash. See cut under Archi- 
teut his. Long-armed squids, the Chirnteuthididse. 
Long-finned squids, species of Lolvjinidse. See cut un- 
der Loliginidee. Short-tinned squids, species of Om- 
mastrephes, as 0. illecebrosus. common in New England 
seas and northward, and a principal source of bait. 
