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squeegee

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 8 January 2026
A long-handled squeegee (noun sense 1.1) being used to clean graffiti off a train on the Cologne S-Bahn in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
A man using a squeegee (noun sense 1.2) on the windscreen of a car on the road.
A historical squeegee (noun sense 2.1) for road-cleaning manufactured by the Kindling company of Wisconsin, U.S.A.
A man using a squeegee with a blade (noun sense 2.3) to force ink through a stencil in silkscreening.

Etymology

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The noun is probably derived from squeege (“(informal, dated) to squeeze”, verb) (an intensified form of squeeze (verb)) + -ee (suffix attached to verbs to form nouns meaning persons or things that are the subjects of the verbs). Compare earlier squilgee, squillgee (“tool in the form of a mop or swab, or a blade with a long handle, used for cleaning and/or drying a vessel’s deck”).[1]

The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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squeegee (plural squeegees)

  1. A tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle. [from mid 19th c.]
    • 1866 November 1, “Phillip’s Patent Rotary Cylinder for Cleaning Ship‘s Bottoms”, in W[illia]m Smith, editor, The Artizan: A Monthly Record of the Progress of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Shipbuilding, Steam Navigation, the Application of Chemistry to the Industrial Arts, &c., volume IV (3rd Series; volume XXIV overall), number 47, London: […] [Henry Judd for the] Office of the “Artizan” Journal, […], →OCLC, page 248, column 1:
      This machine, […] consists of a timber cylinder revolving on an axle, […] The cylinder is armed externally with diagonally-fixed scrapers, squeegees, or brushes.
    2. A long-handled tool with a blade used for cleaning and/or drying surfaces, or for levelling paths, roadways, etc. [from early 20th c.]
      • 1873 March 22, William Haywood, “Washing the Streets”, in George Godwin, editor, The Builder. An Illustrated Weekly Magazine for the Architect, Engineer, Archæologist, Constructor, Sanitary Reformer, and Art-lover, volume XXXI, number 1572, London: Wyman & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 229, column 2:
        [F]our men were employed in playing the jets, two in moving the hose from place to place, and four with brooms in sweeping the surfaces of the asphalte and keeping the channels free from straw and larger refuse; they also used squeegees to dry the surface of the asphalte, it being thought desirable that it should be left as dry as possible, […]
      • 1931, Carl C. Gray, H. F. Hagen, “[General Appendix] The Eighth Wonder: The Holland Vehicular Tunnel”, in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution […] (Publication 3077), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, pages 584–585:
        This roadway is paved with granite blocks laid in the usual sand cement cushion layer, about 1 inch thick, with the joints filled with hot asphalt mixed with heated sand. By means of squeegees, a thin coating, sprinkled with sand, is left upon the surface, resulting in a smooth, resilient, and long-wearing surface that will help to deaden the sounds due to traffic, and be more quickly repaired than concrete.
    4. A short-handled tool with a blade for drying car windshields, windows, etc.
      • 2017, Edward Dickens, “Keep the Shower Room Clean”, in 101 Amazing Dad Skills, London: Portico, Pavilion Books Company, →ISBN:
        For roughly the same cost as two bottles of bathroom cleaner, it is now possible to buy a small squeegee and a microfibre cloth. If you can, buy a squeegee that also has a sucker attachment to enable it to be stuck somewhere convenient and always at hand the moment you emerge gleaming from your ablutions.
    5. (nautical) A long-handled tool with a blade used on ships for swabbing decks and spreading protective coatings.
      Synonym: squilgee
      • 1844, [Matilda Charlotte Fraser] Houstoun, chapter III, in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico; or Yachting in the New World: […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 39:
        As for holy-stoning the decks [of the yacht], I set my face against that from the first; it is the worst description of nervous torture of which I ever heard, excepting perhaps, the infliction of the squee gee, which, as its name almost implies, sets every tooth in one's head on edge for a week.
      • 1923 April 7, [Aylward Edward] Dingle, “The Spouter. Chapter VIII.”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 195, number 41, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40, column 1:
        But now the old ship had a new flavor all her own. Her decks were slippery with [whale] oil; […] "Here, yew two!" Eph shouted as they stood shivering in the sudden chill. "Git them squeegees and scrape this ile to'ards the try works. Lively now, afore it gits out th' scuppers."
  2. A tool consisting of a roller attached to a handle, used for applying pressure, removing liquid, etc.
    2. (historical) A street-cleaning machine consisting of a roller with blades pulled by a horse.
      • 1912 September 3, J. W. Paxton, “Report of the Superintendent of Street Cleaning”, in Annual Report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia: Year Ended June 30, 1912, volume II (Engineer Department Reports), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 66:
        Experiments during the previous year in street washing by squeegee and flushing machines proved so successful that this method has been permanently adopted and the work will be extended as funds are available. The squeegee machines are operated in batteries of one sprinkler and three squeegees, the sprinkler operated some distance ahead to allow the dirt which has become baked and stuck to the pavement to be softened by the absorption of water and easily dislodged by the squeegees. With one battery, which works in the hilly section of the city, it has been found necessary to use three horses in each squeegee machine.
    3. (photography) A tool used to press film into a mount, remove excess moisture from a print, etc.; a squeezer. [from late 19th c.]
      • 1885, C[harles] G[eorge] Warnford Lock, “[Photography—Gelatine Processes.] Gelatino-bromide Film Paper.”, in Workshop Receipts (4th Series), London; New York, N.Y.: E[rnest] & F. N. Spon, […], →OCLC, page 371, column 1:
        The transfer of the image from paper on to the glass is very easy. The paper is immersed in water, and placed in contact with a glass plate. The superfluous moisture being removed by a squeegee, the paper may then be stripped off, leaving the gelatine on the glass.
    5. (printing) A tool with a roller or blade used to force ink through a stencil in silk-screen printing.
  3. (slang) A person who uses a squeegee (noun sense 1.2); specifically, one who makes an unsolicited attempt to clean the windshield of a car stopped at a traffic light and then requests payment; a squeegee bandit. [from late 20th c.]
    (person who uses a squeegee): Hyponym: squeegeeman
    (person who makes an unsolicited attempt to clean a car windshield): Synonyms: squeegee kid, squeegee thug

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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squeegee (third-person singular simple present squeegees, present participle squeegeeing, simple past and past participle squeegeed)

  1. (transitive) Sometimes followed by down, out, together, etc.: to press or spread (a substance) using a squeegee (noun sense); also, to use a squeegee on (something, such as a surface). [from late 19th c.]
    Synonym: squilgee
    • 1883, T[homas] Frederick Hardwich, “The Practical Details of Photographic Printing”, in J[ohn] Traill Taylor, editor, A Manual of Photographic Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical, 9th edition, London: J[ohn] & A[ugustus] Churchill, […], →OCLC, section IV (Carbon, or Pigment Printing), page 347:
      Transparencies on glass, for use in the Stereoscope, the magic lantern, or for window decoration, may very easily be made by the Carbon process. […] The Carbon tissue, previously cut to the dimensions of the glass, is printed as previously directed, with a very narrow safe-edge: it is then "squeegeed" down on the glass and developed.
    • 1885, C[harles] G[eorge] Warnford Lock, “[Photography—Gelatine Processes.] Emulsions.”, in Workshop Receipts (4th Series), London; New York, N.Y.: E[rnest] & F. N. Spon, […], →OCLC, page 346, column 2:
      [T]he full quantity of gelatine is added, viz. 20 gr. per ounce, stirring well up from the bottom, and pouring into a dish to set. When cold, squeegee the emulsion (after being scraped up from the bottom of the dish with a card) through muslin into a solution of potash bichromate, stir it up with a strip of glass, and leave for ½ hour or more; […]
    • 1886 September 4, “Recollections of a Midshipman’s Mess. In Four Parts. Part I.”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. [...] With which is Incorporated Household Words, volume XXXIX (New Series), number 927, London: […] C. Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 104, column 2:
      By degrees the ship began to assume the appearance which one expects a British man-of-war to wear. […] The decks were persistently holystoned, scrubbed, ‘squeegéed’, and swabbed, till every speck was removed from them, with about a quarter of an inch of solid wood as well; […]
  2. (intransitive) To use a squeegee.
    • 1885, C[harles] G[eorge] Warnford Lock, “[Photography—Miscellaneous.] Silver Prints mounted on Glass; Medallions.”, in Workshop Receipts (4th Series), London; New York, N.Y.: E[rnest] & F. N. Spon, […], →OCLC, page 411, column 2:
      Having regulated the temperature, the following articles will be required:– […] a rubber squeegee, and a piece of American cloth to protect the print while squeegeeing; […]

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “squeegee, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “squeegee, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “squeegee, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “squeegee, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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