squeeze

CEFRB1

/skwiːz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To press something firmly from opposite sides.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To embrace closely; to give a tight hug to.

Examples

  • He is really putting the squeeze on me.

  • She managed to squeeze the fresh orange juice into a glass.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To fit into a tight place.

  2. To apply pressure to from two or more sides at once.

  3. To remove something with difficulty, or apparent difficulty.

More examples

In context

  • Small enterprises are feeling the squeeze of inflation.

  • I managed to squeeze the car into that parking space.

  • I squeezed the ball between my hands.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

To get orange juice, you must blank the fruit firmly with your hands.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From earlier squize, squise (whence also dialectal English squizzen and squeege), first attested around 1600, further origin uncertain; probably an alteration of quease (which is attested since 1550), from Middle English queisen (“to squeeze”), from Old English cwȳsan (“to crush, squeeze”), itself also of unknown origin, perhaps imitative (compare Swedish qväsa, kväsa (“to squeeze, bruise, crush; quell”), Dutch kwetsen (“to injure, hurt”), German quetschen (“to squeeze”)). Or, a blend of obsolete squiss (“to squeeze”) (whence also squash and squish) with quease. Compare also French esquicher from Old Occitan esquichar (“to press, squeeze”). The slang expression "to put the squeeze on (someo...