Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to own up.

1847		W.T. Porter Quarter Race in Kentucky and Other Sketches 45: I got his head under my arm an I made him squeal immediately.
1877		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (4th edn) 797: Squeal, [...] to ‘throw up the sponge’.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 238: Gonna beef where it’s hid? Gonna squeal ef Slim’s boy’s got it or not?
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 99: I can make her squeal the rest of the stuff about the counterfeitin’.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 106: But sick as I was, I didn’t squeal about the four pennies.

2. to complain.

1858		Monmouth Democrat (Freehold, NJ) 21 Oct. 1/3: The ‘meek and innocent’ Staten Islanders, whom the [...] Mayor intends to make ‘squeal’.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 139/1: I’ll taik kair ’e doan’t squeal anny abeowt it, else I’ll breeak ’is owl jaw fur ’im.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 211: This is the division made, unless the ‘sucker’ happens to be some influential person, and fleeced while drunk, and who, when sober, will ‘squeal’ for his money.
1899		E. Townshend ‘Chimmie Fadden in His New Joint’ 9 Apr. [synd. col.] ‘Who is squealing about de expense?’.
1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 262: I don’t squeal. I had a good run in ’Frisco and I’ve breathed easy ever since.
1911		D. Runyon ‘The Man Who Can’t Go Back’ 2 Oct. [synd. col.] I’ve never sen him squeal / About his fate.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 29/2: ‘This has cost enough to square the Legislature of the Noo York State, an’ I’m goin’ to squeal.’ He says: ‘For John the Baptist’s sake,’ he says, ‘don’t squeal yet. Gimme another pay.’ [...] ‘Then I squealed so that you could hear me in Texas.’.
1923		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 11 Aug. 15/4: The possum never squealed either. It was one of the neatest jobs I ever ’andled.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 152: I suppose you’ve gone squealing to your old man and the old woman!
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 98: Flapper: He’s grateful to me [...] he’s never squealed once .
1975		Terre Haute Trib. (IN) 3 Oct. 10/4: You could hold this weasler to it, no matter how he squeals.
1985		B. Robinson Aussie Bull 6: My favourite bit of Bull is to encourage someone to ‘squeal’ about his job.

3. to inform against one’s partners, esp. partners in crime.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Sept. n.p.: He would squeal like a pig if the ‘collar’ was put on him.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 86: He located the ‘boodle,’ and ‘squealed’ on his pals.
1880		S.A. Mackeever Glimpses of Gotham and City Characters 55/1: I would be a despicable wretch indeed to repay the courtesy which made the experience possible by ‘squealing’ on those I met. I believe they call it ‘squealing’.
1888		World (N.Y.) 30 June 10/4: If they don’t get a lawyer for me I’ll squeal on the whole business.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 10/1: O Blessed Interpreter! / Scene – Suburban Police-court / [...] Witness: ‘Why, he meant he’d biff me if I squealed or turned dorg on him.’.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 392: beefer: one who ‘squeals’ on, or gives away, a tramp or criminal.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Sept. 29/2: An’, roundin’ the kips, / Yer kin pump ‘em, an’ then / Yer off ter the demons / To sell what yer got, / When yer through / Wif a few / Ter squeal on an’ pot.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 85: One of the gang had squealed on the big job in Frisco.
1913–14		E. O’Neill The Web in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 63: Yuh swear yuh won’t squeal on me?
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) I ix: The Gray Seal who [...] they had counted the most eminent among themselves, had squealed!
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 191: If I catch you knocking me to any other firm, I’ll squeal all I know about you.
1934		R. Sale ‘A Nose for News’ in Goulart (1967) 214: It’s funny how fear will make a guy squeal on his own mother.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 10: Squealing: Giving information to the police.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 87: If my pal don’ get paid he will squeal.
1948		R. Park Harp in South 97: She had squealed on Delie Stock mainly because she had refused to sell her some wine.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 287: Cats are all stooges anyhow [...] a dog’ll never squeal on a pal.
1959		Mad mag. June 12: Was you who squealed on me, / And sent me to the local pen.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 106: Dummies don’t squeal.
1965		L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 10: Miss Bostaug hadn’t ‘squealed’ on me.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 150: Long Henry persisted in his refusal to ‘squeal’.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 100: He’d been remanded in custody, which meant they were trying to make him squeal.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 9: The guy was macho. He didn’t squeal.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 50: But if you ask me to squeal on my brother officers, I’ll plead fucking amnesia.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 146: But squeal the screws on some aggravation up the recess or bit of crack on visits, well out of order.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 175/2: squeal v. to inform upon, to betray.
2015		67 ‘Live Corn’ 🎵 If suttin get got I know my niggas won’t squeal.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘They see you gimping through the door and they’ll wonder how much you squealed’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 28: Squealers can only squeal if they have the information.

4. to report a crime to the police or any other authority.

1872		E. Crapsey Nether Side of NY 21: [I]f a forger is content to cheat them out of small amounts they pocket the loss in silence, and never report the matter to the police at all [but] [s]ometimes the forgers strike so heavily that the bank forgets its caution and ‘squeals’ with exceeding liveliness.
1878		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Apr. 6/3: [He] came down loser and very sullen. He growled and then threatened to squeal if he didn’t get a part of the play returned.
1895		Lexow Report 38: Not only did they pay regular monthly sums for protection, but where victims ‘squealed’ the police, either ward or headquarter detectives, demanded one-half of the plunder.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 36: He was a Good Fellow and would not go and Squeal to the Faculty.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 211: Some of those fearless mutts who are ashamed to fight less than three at a time but start to ‘squeal’ the minute a copper taps them on the shoulder.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 520: The tightening net of evidence. The blonde squealing.
1936		Queenslander (Brisbane) 2 July 4/4: So, out to crop the wisdom I did sow, And with much daring took a ‘gay’ in tow. / But this was all the harvest that I reaped, / I touch the ‘mug’ - he squeals - and in I go!
1946		F.J. Hardy ‘The Load of Wood’ in Man From Clinkapella 9: Keep yer trap shut. If yer squeal about this, I’ll kick yer bloody guts in!
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 164: Then you’d squeal like a stuck pig.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 64: Stoolies who squeal to ingratiate themselves with the cops.
1976		P. O’Farrell Book of Irish Soldiers’ Jokes 12: Bandmaster: ‘Do you know Who Killed Cock Robin?’ Applicant: ‘I do. But I’d never squeal on a bird.’.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 170: You weren’t thinking about squealing, were you?
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 52: Satisfied the child wouldn’t squeal, Jade looked at Wanda accusingly.