squeeze n.1
1. (also squeezing) a crowded social gathering.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Tale of a Tub 21: Lord! what a filthy crowd is here; [...] Z---ds, what squeezing is this! | |
 | Works (1825) II 22: Do you know the different terms? There is a squeeze, a fuss, a drum, a rout, and lastly a hurricane, when the whole house is full from top to bottom. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Estate of Culross Coal Workings 53: It either is, or should be toneish, Scots Coals and Wax Tapers forming two of the indispensably necessary attendants of Drums, Routs, and Squeezes. | |
| Correspondance (1912) I 13: The weather is getting terribly hot for squeezes [OED]. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 57: Appearing for a short time at ‘the squeeze,’ and then vanishing. | |
| Eng. Spy I 416: The Lord Mayor’s ball at the Mansion House – a most delightful squeeze. | |
| Commercial Advertiser (N.Y.) 5 Jan. 2/2: It is such a piece of fatuity, in any one who has money in his purse, to go into a squeeze [...], that we believe Royal Avery is not the only man who has recently picked his own pocket. | |
| in W. Scott and C.K. Sharpe Letters to R. Chambers (1904) 51: I never saw such a squeeze as getting into the supper-room presented. | |
| Comic Almanack May 224: Sweet Gallery squeeze [...] Crowds, looking up, still pushing go, / With stares above, and stairs below. | |
| N.Y. by Gas-Light (1990) 191: What a squeeze – what a crowd! |
2. uses based on the idea of squeezing the body.
(a) (also squeeg) the neck [i.e. that which is squeezed].
| ‘The Potato Man’ in Musa Pedestris (1896) 54: With a blue bird’s eye about my squeeg. | |
| ‘Tom the Drover’ No. 30 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: She pads the hoof up and down, and with a beaver castor she goes, / With an India man about her squeeze. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Vocab. of the Flash Lang. | |
| Morn. Chron. 6 Dec. 3/5: Williams was swellish in the extreme, and he was togged out accordingly [...] white topper on, a prime fancy upper Benjamin, a blue bird’s-eye silk fogle round his squeeze. | |
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 109: An old evergreen chap may be dressed kiddily, i.e. knowingly, with his hat on one side, [...] a yellow bird’s-eye blue or Belcher fogle, circling his squeeze and a chitterling shirt of great magnitude. | |
| in Bk of Sports 101: With a blue bird’s eye about his squeeze, and his garters below his knee. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 27 Sept. 3/1: York delivered on the squeese, knocking his man down. | |
| Swell’s Night Guide 64: A spicy tile, and nobby head of hair [...] And round his squeeze, which seemed formed for a rope, / He flash’d a birdseye fogle. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 Aug. 3/5: A white choker round his sqveedge. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 June 2/3: Jack came ashore, attired in a new ‘bird’s eye round his squeeze," and a magnificent ‘yeller wescut’. | |
| ‘The Chickaleary Cove’ 🎵 The stock around my squeeze a guiver colour see, And the vestat with the bins so rorty. | |
| Sl. Dict. 307: Squeeze [...] also, by a very significant figure, a thief’s term for the neck. | |
| (con. 1835–40) Bold Bendigo 135: That young covey with the yellow belcher round his squeeze is Tom Sutton. |
(b) the rope used for a hanging [i.e. that which squeezes].
| DSUE (1984) 1138/2: from ca. 1830; ob. |
(c) (also throttle-squeeze) a cravat.
| in N.Y. Clipper 24 Dec. 1853 2/3: [He] sported a green throttle-squeeze with yellow spots . | |
| Bell’s Life in London 17 July n.p.: Jones sported a purple squeeze with orange border. | |
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 May 2/6: I takes off my squeedge, hangs lt on the bed and falls asleep. |
(d) (Aus.) the female waist [it is squeezed].
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Squeeze - Sometimes a woman’s waist. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. |
(e) (Aus. und.) constr. with the, garrotting.
| Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 11 Aug. 15/3: [M]ental brilliance is a hindrance rather than a help in the application of the ungentle art of garroting. Professionally the operation is known as the ‘Squeeze’ or ‘Necklace’. |
3. a hard bargain.
| Life in Paris 14: Warm work is / The squeeze for an English display / Of beef, pudding, potatoes, and turkeys. | |
| Heart of Darkness 31: They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. |
4. (UK Und.) a break-in for the purpose of robbery.
| London by Night I i: I was not disappointed with the ‘squeeze,’ for entering the first room, I discovered an open cabinet with a bowl of silver coin. |
5. petty theft; embezzling .
| Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jul. 32/1: I knew he was robbing me, but I also knew he took good care that no one else did. [...] His devotion to my interests (apart from that little ‘squeeze’ I have mentioned) was touching. | |
| Sahara Desert Escape 136: The Camp Commandant deducted what he thought fit for Company funds [...] this was part of his squeeze, and far from increasing our rations he lined his pocket a bit more by selling what he could . |
6. (also squeegee) silk, thus any garment made of it, e.g. squeeze hat, a silk hat; also attrib. [the quality of the fabric that will squeeze into a minuscule space].
| Men of Character I 261: Who should he see there but the pot-hook marine, Nankin, with a long coat, and a squeeze hat under his arm? | |
| Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 165/2: Squeeze – silk. | |
| Bell’s Life in London 22 Apr. 4/4: Jones [...] also wore ‘the livery of the Ring’, and flashed light blue squeezes [i.e. a cravat] with fancy borders. | |
| , | | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
| Five Years’ Penal Servitude 240: He’d tog himself up in black, with a white ‘squeeze,’ on a Sunday, and go to two or three different churches. | |
| ‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 503: After the place where I was chived got well, me and another screwed a place at Stoke Newington. We got some squeeze (silk) dresses, and two sealskin jackets. | |
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Squeeze - Silk. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. [as 1882]. | |
| Newcastle Courant 18 Nov. 5/2: Put on your squeeze-dress and we’ll make a night of it. | |
| City Of The World 272: The stout old dame in a rainbow bonnet and a squeeze – which is Greek for silk – dress. | |
| in Advertiser (Adelaide) 12 Apr. 24/8: ‘Squeeze’ means silk. | |
| Sharpe of the Flying Squad 58: Their objective was a large squeeze gaff (silk warehouse) in the City Road. | |
| Phenomena in Crime 253: Squeegee, cats-milk. Silken goods. | |
| Inside the C.I.D. 200: Squeeze Silk. | |
| Signs of Crime 202: Squeeze (noun) Silk. |
7. (orig. Aus.) an impression of a key made for criminal purposes.
| Sydney Sl. Dict. 8/2: Squeeze, an impression of a keyhole in wax. | |
| In London’s Heart 86: Lor, what a prutty job it is – the way as the Dook got a wax squeeze o’ that key. [Ibid.] 152: The inspector came to the conclusion that the key had been taken from the house at that time, and what in thieves’ parlance is known as ‘a squeeze of the turn’ had been taken and a duplicate made from it. | |
| 25 Years in Six Prisons 206: He had managed to obtain a ‘squeeze’ of the duplicate safe-key. | |
| Burglars in Bucks 135: Where did the dummy keys [...] come from? [...] If they were forgeries it would be simpler, for Sir Hiram might remember if anyone had handled his keys long enough to take a squeeze [OED]. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 71: Squeeze, an impression of a keyhole in wax. |
8. an escape; thus narrow squeeze, a lucky escape.
| Friends of France 60: Such is the general story of the activity and life of the Section’s last months in Alsace. Its details would include many stories of tight squeezes, of break-downs and troubles in hot places. | |
| Layer Cake 14: Small-time dealers they’d managed to turn informant in exchange for a squeeze if they got nicked anywhere in London. |
9. a difficult situation; trouble with the police.
| He who Shoots Last 82: They might check with the city jacks and you will be in squeeze. |
10. uses based on financial pressure [squeeze v.; but note 18C use of SE to mean the same thing].
(a) (US Und.) extortion money.
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Squeeze (among the Chinese) - An unfair or over-charge, the subtraction of a portion of money, a bribe, &c. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Squeeze, bribe money. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
(b) financial stress.
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 July 14/2: They fail to see where the ‘squeeze’ comes in on Von der Ahe, as the fines Imposed were incurred by these players for a personal fight [...] and not through any infraction of the rules. | |
| Shorty McCabe 8: Course, there’s times when I finds myself up against it. It was durin’ one of them squeezes [...] that I gets mixed up with Leonidas Dodge. | |
| ‘Zarko Assassin’ in Bulletin 23 Oct. 48/3: It was durin’ one of them periodical squeezes that every fight manager gets into that I hitched up in Sydney with Lou Sampson and his travellin’ boxin’ show. | |
| Big Rumble 26: They lived on the Unemployment Insurance papa got. It was a tight squeeze. | |
| Maundy Gregory 181: Her feeling was that 'Uncle Jim' could find the money elsewhere, borrowing from his well-to-do friends. Gregory had been in tight squeezes before and had managed to wriggle out of them. | |
| NYPD Confidentiial 208: Kerik complained [...] about a cash squeeze that prevented him from enjoying the luxuries he felt he deserved. |
(c) (US) an act of blackmail or extortion.
| Mirror of Life 5 Jan. 2/3: The first [visit] was merely to ‘break the ice’ for a squeeze on his part, and a bit of kid on ours to string him along just to see how far he would really go. | |
| Des Moines Register (IA) 23 Aug. 6/3: They [...] spoke of ‘giving the old man the big squeeze.’ The only interpretation of that is blackmail. | |
| Busman’s Honeymoon (1974) 46: He got Tallboys dirt cheap [...] Got some kind of squeeze on the old people and put the brokers in. | |
| Halo in Blood (1988) 58: I could still be working on the squeeze. | |
| (con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 16: He got bad headaches – chronic – they started with the Jack squeeze. The squeeze failed. |
(d) pressure, emotional stress.
| ‘Prison Mass’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 164: He hadn’t thought of one convincing thing to say during that squeeze. | |
| ‘Dead Don’t Dream’ in Hollywood Detective July 🌐 You’d like me to hang the squeeze on the fat slob. | |
| Fabulous Gunman 65: You maybe in more of a squeeze than you know. | |
| ‘They Never Love Poor Marcus’ 🎵 They didn’t know there would be days like these / Now the human race in such a squeeze. | |
| Big Ask 75: Before long the squeeze was on [...] Longer hours, double shifts. | |
| Whiplash River [ebook] Shake guessed that Baby Jesus would take the opportunity to give Shake a hard squeeze. Probably he’d move up the payment schedule. | |
| Watergate 288: Nixon had promised that he would make the [Washington] Post pay for its meddling, and after the election, he began the squeeze. |
11. uses based on physical affection.
(a) (US Und.) the head of an institution or an undertaking.
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 80: squeeze [...] The principal or manager of an institution, an establishment or any undertaking. A contraction of the popular ‘main squeeze’ meaning the same. |
(b) a girl- or boyfriend.
| ‘The Picnic’ in Benno and Some of the Push 4: ‘Is she a shine squeeze, Benno?’ asked Feathers. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: squeeze n. 1. a girl friend. 2. a boy friend. | |
| In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 17: ‘She your woman?’ ‘Just a squeeze.’. | |
| Homeboy 13: Kitty Litter, his squeeze, stripped at the Blue Note. | |
| Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] Warren’s latest squeeze or craze was Debbie, a homely blonde hairdresser who owned a trendy salon at Coogee. | |
| Eve. Standard Mag. 4 June 10: I can’t even blame the new squeeze. | |
| You Got Nothing Coming 110: The Hunger [...] has just been happily reunited with an old ‘squeeze’ and fellow J-Cat alumnus called Cassandra. | |
| Observer 1 Feb. 42: Vote for Harry’s new squeeze. | |
| Hilliker Curse 12: This geek Hank Hart was her first post-divorce squeeze. | |
| (con. 1943) Irish Fandango [ebook] ‘[T]he radio show. Me squeeze never misses it. | |
| Killing Pool 113: Kalan dropped the bombshell about his new squeeze [...] a Kurdish lad loving a Somali girl. | |
| Widespread Panic 226: I’ll call you Rambunctious Rock’s Squeeze. |
(c) (orig. US black) a close friend.
| Third Ear n.p.: squeeze n. […] 3. an intimate acquaintance. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 35: There are a variety of other expressions that essentially carry the same sense of friendship and trust as ace: main man, squeeze. | |
| Guardian Sport 2 Oct. 16: I’ll give Des a bell [...] to ask his advice about his ex-squeeze. |
(d) something very special.
| Chinese Girl (2001) 104: This flat’s my squeeze, I don’t want it turning into a jacket job. |
12. (US Und.) a device used to control a mechanical gambling game dishonestly.
| Big Con 308: squeeze. A dishonest device for controlling a mechanical gambling game. |
13. (UK black) a discount; something free or cut-price.
| (con. 1979–80) Brixton Rock (2004) 75: I was gonna ask man an’ man for eighty sheets. But [...] I give you a twenty pound squeeze. | |
| (con. 1981) East of Acre Lane 167: Remember how he got us a squeeze at de Christmas dance dey ’ad. |
14. (UK Und.) a short prison sentence.
| in Living Dangerously 30: I got a squeeze (a light sentence). | |
| Vinnie Got Blown Away 69: You don’t even know you get a guilty let alone you get a squeeze or a long one. |
In compounds
a neck-cloth, a (silk) handkerchief.
| Life’s Painter 141: The balloon business now, is the best that’s going, they are so intent when it ascends, that I verily believe, I could unbuckle his squeeze clout, and nap his rum twang. | |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Flash Dict. | |
| Vocabulum 85: squeeze clout A silk handkerchief. |
In phrases
to blackmail.
| ‘Assistant Murderer’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 157: We turned a couple of tricks — one con and one blackmail — and then she ran into Jerome Falsoner. We were going to give him the squeeze. |
1. (orig. US) one’s most favourite person, usu. a lover.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 147: In woman’s usage, terms like home squeeze, main squeeze [...] connote sexual fidelity. |
2. (orig. US black) one’s wife or regular partner.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 242: home squeeze Lover or mate. |
1. (US) the boss, the foreman, any important person.
| Artie (1963) 39: I went in and asked the main squeeze o’ the works how much the sacque meant to him. | |
| Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum III n.p.: Then I shall strive and be the great main squeeze, The warm gazook, the only on the bunch. | |
| Torchy 3: The door was open a foot or two; so I steps up to take a peek at the main squeeze. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 80: squeeze [...] The principal or manager of an institution, an establishment or any undertaking. A contraction of the popular ‘main squeeze’ meaning the same. | |
| ‘The New Fable of the Marathon in the Mud’ in Ade’s Fables 293: The Main Squeeze was trying to be a Bank Director, and Rockefeller had stolen a long start on him. | |
| ‘The Big Knockover’ Story Omnibus (1966) 282: Of those who weren’t caught, Bluepoint Vance seems to be the main squeeze. | |
| (con. 1890s) Old Bowery Days 493: Them guys that flag the Washington graft get famous and get to be the main squeeze at the White House. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
2. (US) an outstanding example or individual.
| My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Apr. 5/4: Soldiers of Fortune Richard Harding Davis [...] Dickie is the mains queeze when it comes to the up-to-date stuff. |
3. (orig. US, also main mellow, main piece, number-one squeeze) one’s most favoured person, usu. a lover or most intimate same-sex friend.
| Wise-crack Dict. | |
| Farm (1968) 97: There’s never been a day in my life when I couldn’t go to 1 of my main mellows and get some help. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: main mellow, main piece, main squeeze n. a man’s closest woman friend. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 133: You my main squeeze, my one-and-only. [Ibid.] 147: In woman’s usage, terms like home squeeze, main squeeze [...] connote sexual fidelity. | |
| Sweet La-La Land (1999) 81: For his lady love. For his best girl. Old flame. Number-one squeeze. | |
| (con. 1960s) Blood Brothers 178: Come over here and meet my main squeeze that brings me to my knees. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) Straight from the Fridge Dad. | |
| Pain Killers 388: Just to let him know he wasn’t all that compared to my main squeeze. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 13: [M]ain squeeze in Darryl Zanuck’s all-starlet stable. |
(orig. US) to pressurize, to extort, to blackmail.
| N. Argus (Clare, SA) 6 July 3/2: When foreign vessels wrecked on their coasts have been plundered in this way, the owners have put in a claim against the Chinese Government [...] the authorities indemnifying themselves by putting the squeeze on the adjacent villages. | |
| Sun (NY) 27 July 40/2: A District Attorney put on all the squeeze he could to get a squawk out of the boob. He wouldn’t come across. | |
| ‘Too Many Have Lived’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 316: We hadn’t been able to find him since he went to put the squeeze to this baby, and then he turns up dead. | |
| Halo in Blood (1988) 128: There was no reason why he shouldn’t get rid of Marlin and put the squeeze on Sandmark by himself. | |
| Swell-Looking Babe 74: It was going to work out so’s I could put the squeeze — ask you to do me a favor. | |
| Ghost Squad 37: I learned the tricks of this harsh and unrelenting trade [...] when to put the squeeze on — threaten a thief with arrest unless he informed on his friends — and when to turn a blind eye. | |
| Complete Guide to Gambling 691: Squeeze – 2. pressure or force. ‘We put the squeeze on him and he opened up.’. | |
| Boston Blitz (1974) 28: If this engineer puts the squeeze on either Johnny or Val, he’ll learn anything they might be able to tell him. | |
| Public Burning (1979) 409: Ulysses Grant used his fortieth year to put the squeeze on Vicksburg. | |
| Alice in La-La Land (1999) 102: The pimps are going around putting the squeeze on. | |
| Curvy Lovebox 92: We’re puttin’ the squeeze on after all the ceremonies. | |
| Plainclothes Naked (2002) 18: You think you can put the squeeze on me, you’re stupid and ugly. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 232: The former brother-in-law was putting the squeeze on him for more. | |
| Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘They came here to put the squeeze on strick’. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
1. a harmonium [the pressing of feet on the pedals].
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 232/1: Squeeze-box (Navy). The ship harmonium – used in the hasty Sunday service. From the action of the feet. |
2. an accordion or concertina; also attrib. [the pressing together of the two sides of the instrument].
| ‘Agric. College Sl. in S. Dakota’ AS XI:3 280/1: Squeeze-box, an accordion. | |
| Roll On My Twelve 12: Dicky Reece on a squeeze-box playing a swing version of ‘Abide with Me’. | |
| Venetian Blonde (2006) 164: I [...] took the squeezebox out of her hands. | |
| A Bottle of Sandwiches 62: Bill’s wife Marge played the squeeze-box. | |
| Dict. Popular Sl. | |
| Deathdeal [ebook] [A] kid with a squeezebox was busking for coins. | |
| Observer Rev. 22 Aug. 7: An accordionist [...] and three female singers who can switch with one wheeze of a squeeze-box from snarling to soulful. | |
| (con. 1964–8) Cold Six Thousand 90: Dick played squeeze-box gigs for Sam G. | |
| ‘High Art’ in The Red Hand 75: ‘The old drunk with the squeezebox’. |
see under crab n.1
(W.I.) a derog. term for a Chinese person.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Jamaica Talk 163: A nickname is squeeze-eye. |
a bribe.
| in Living London (1883) Aug. 346: There comes to me, in the Shanghai Mercury of June 8, a word quite new to me, and which is positively delicious. It is ‘squeeze-pidgin.’ [...] ‘Squeeze-pidgin,’ I infer, is an official putting on of ‘the screw’. |
a surety for a loan; ‘a good-natured foolish fellow, ready to become security for another, under hand and seal’ (Grose, 1785).
| Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Squeezing of Wax, being Bound for any Body. | |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
In phrases
sexual intercourse.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 109: Entreprise, f. The act of kind; ‘the game of squeeze ’em close’. |