squeegee — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle.

   Examples

   More examples (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 tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle. A long-handled tool with a blade used for cleaning and/or drying surfaces, or for levelling paths, roadways, etc.

   Examples

   More examples (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, […]

   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.

3. A tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle. A short-handled tool with a blade for drying car windshields, windows, etc.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

4. A tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle. A long-handled tool with a blade used on ships for swabbing decks and spreading protective coatings.

   Synonyms

   squilgee

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   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.

   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."

5. A tool consisting of a roller attached to a handle, used for applying pressure, removing liquid, etc. A street-cleaning machine consisting of a roller with blades pulled by a horse.

   Usage

   • Historical

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

6. A tool consisting of a roller attached to a handle, used for applying pressure, removing liquid, etc. A tool used to press film into a mount, remove excess moisture from a print, etc.; a squeezer.

   Examples

   More examples (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.

7. A tool consisting of a roller attached to a handle, used for applying pressure, removing liquid, etc. A tool with a roller or blade used to force ink through a stencil in silk-screen printing.

8. 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.

   Usage

   • Slang

   Synonyms

   squeegee kidsqueegee thug

Verb

1. 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).

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   squilgee

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   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.

   [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; […]

   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. To use a squeegee.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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; […]

Noun

1. T-shaped cleaning implement with a rubber edge across the top; drawn across a surface to remove water (as in washing windows)

   Broader terms

   cleaning implementcleaning devicecleaning equipment

Verb

1. wipe with a squeegee

   Broader terms

   wipepass over

   Examples

   squeegee the windows