1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Escachure,..a squash, crush, knock, or squeeze, (wherby a thing is flatted, or beaten close together).

1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 75 Let the tuneful Squeeze Of labouring Elbow rouze them [sc. ‘imprison'd winds’ of the bagpipes], out they fly Melodious.

1806 ‘Ignotus’ Culina (ed. 3) 63 When sufficiently stewed, give it a gentle squeeze.

1835 J. Ross Narr. Second Voy. North-west Passage viii. 121 In attempting to pass between two large pieces of ice, they suddenly closed, so as to give us a considerable squeeze, but without any injury.

1843 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. I. 134 The final squeeze is given by the entire force of three men.

1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.P 20 The punch;.. as it retires, after having given its squeeze, the point is lubricated.

1711 J. Swift Lett. (1767) III. 227 A rogue that writes a newspaper..has reflected on me in one of his papers; but the secretary has taken him up, and he shall have a squeeze extraordinary.

1777 J. Wedgwood Let. 13 Apr. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 204 Mrs. Du Burk's assurance in asking us to pay her debts is very great... It is another squeeze, and I would not pay a stiver.

1835 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Acharnians Introd. p. viii A squeeze and a gripe too often advertised the towns beneath, that..Athens had as much need of external as of native resources.

1850 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) II. 182 It begins again, the old pressure and squeeze of books and old routine.

1887 Spectator 21 May 675/2 A gentle squeeze to the Sultan might effect some improvement.

1941 E. B. White Let. 24 June (1967) 210 I am writing you direct to put the old personal squeeze on you.

1942 R. Chandler High Window (1943) xxxiii. 220 She hired me to..put the squeeze on Linda for a divorce.

1949 Ann. Reg. 1948 6 The tension was not relaxed, for there now began the Russian ‘squeeze’ in Berlin.

1954 ‘J. Christopher’ Twenty-second Cent. 21 They're putting the squeeze on. But there's got to be an excuse before they can swallow us.

1969 A. G. Frank Lat. Amer. xxv. 394 The imperialist squeeze obliges them to react by squeezing their workers.

1978 S. Brill Teamsters vi. 217 Spilotro's army of enforcers..put the squeeze on hard-pressed loan~shark victims.

1802 T. Beddoes Hygëia II. v. 55 Tea and coffee..are frequently taken in the very stew and squeeze of a fashionable mob.

1805 Baroness Bunsen in A. J. C. Hare Life & Lett. Baroness Bunsen (1879) I. iii. 72 I never could have imagined what a real squeeze was until I found myself in the passage.

1854 Poultry Chron. 1 141 I shall never again believe what ladies say against a mob, after witnessing how many high-born, gentle, and feeble old ladies endured the squeeze at Birmingham.

1872 Chicago Tribune 23 Oct. 1/5 The Gold Room was treated to a slight sensation to-day in the shape of a ‘squeeze’ in cash gold, which was made as high as 3/8 per cent per diem for borrowing.

1890 Daily News 26 June 2/2 The middlemen who happened to have provided themselves with money in view of a ‘squeeze’.

1894 Times 7 Mar. 5/4 The business of the New York Stock Market was marked to-day by a ‘squeeze’ in Sugar Trust certificates.

1924 G. G. Munn Encycl. Banking & Finance 523/1 A money squeeze refers to a temporary shortage in the supply of loanable funds accompanied by difficulty in borrowing and marking up of interest rates.

1927 W. H. Hubbard Cotton & Cotton Market (ed. 2) 396 While we have never had a corner since 1910, we have had in recent years a succession of annoying premiums on the near deliveries. The trade calls these minor corners a ‘squeeze’.

1937 Sun (Baltimore) 25 Sept. 15/8 ‘Longs’ are traders who in recent months have been accumulating contracts specifying delivery of corn to them in September. ‘Shorts’ are those who have sold these contracts, many of them reportedly without having possession of the corn to deliver. The attempt to make these ‘shorts’ pay a comparatively high price either to buy back their contracts or to buy the corn to deliver on them is known as a ‘squeeze’ in market parlance.

1943 Funk & Wagnalls New Stand. Encycl. Year Bk. 1942 373/1 For Price Roll Back and Price Squeezes, see Business Review under Commodity Prices.

1958 J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society xvi. 184 A severe squeeze will ordinarily be placed on the capital requirements of smaller-scale firms.

1979 B. Hines Price of Coal i. 48 I'm talking about spending thousands of pounds of public money... I thought there was a squeeze on?

1896 J. F. B. Lillard Poker Stories ix. 225 His seat was so placed that he faced the afternoon sun, and as the latest squeezes were then unknown, he steadily began to lose.

1926 Work-Whitehead Auction Bridge Bull. Jan. 117/1 The Squeeze is unquestionably the least understood of the several more or less rare plays arising from time to time in the proper play of Auction hands.

1928 A. E. M. Foster Auction Bridge 123 Americans have given us many racy if not always picturesque terms for Bridge... It is only comparatively recently that we have heard of ‘squeeze’ play... The squeeze may be briefly defined as forcing discards... It means going on forcing discards until you squeeze a winning card or cards out of your adversaries. Nearly all the double dummy problems are based upon squeeze tactics.

1930 M. C. Work Auction Bridge Compl. 497 Squeeze (score). When fractions of 100 points are counted as 100 or zero, the side which gains thereby is said to get the squeeze. Squeeze play. Leading winning cards until an opponent is compelled to unguard a suit by discarding.

1933 Sunday Times 5 Feb. 5/1 The coup formerly only known as the ‘Vienna Coup’, but now, more appropriately, also termed the ‘Squeeze’.

1959 Listener 5 Nov. 802/3 He played for a squeeze.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 20 Nov. 21- a/2 Another ‘cooked’ story is behind this week's hand. It involved a refusal to finesse and ended with a very fancy squeeze.

1736 H. Fielding Pasquin i. 8 I never had a civiller Squeeze by the Hand in my Life... Ay, you have squeez'd that out pretty well.

1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 206 Harry seized him by the hand, and gave him..the squeeze and the look of love.

1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I cxi. 58 Yet there's no doubt she only meant to clasp His fingers with a pure Platonic squeeze.

1841 W. M. Thackeray Great Hoggarty Diamond iii Lady Fanny..held me out her little hand, and gave mine such a squeeze.

1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men II. 265 Giving him an honest, hearty squeeze of the hand.

1790 J. Wolcot Compl. Epist. to Bruce in Wks. (1812) II. 354 What bade the charming Lady Mary fly Marchesi's squeeze, for Pacchierotti's sigh?

1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 133 My tenderest squeeze is but a giant's clutch.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xlvi. 454 Drying the tears upon her shrivelled face, and giving him a tender squeeze.

1899 A. Conan Doyle Duet 207 She threw her arms round his neck and gave him a hearty squeeze.

1761 Ann. Reg., Characters 4/2 A little pimento, and the squeeze of an orange their only sauce.

1849 T. B. Macaulay in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Ld. Macaulay (1913) II. xii. 233 They are more than sufficiently eulogistic. In both there are squeezes of acid.

1864 Reader 12 Mar. 324/3 It is much relished with a squeeze of lemon~juice.

1907 Westm. Gaz. 12 Apr. 4/2 For the nearer colouring he would still serve himself out a liberal squeeze of burnt-sienna.

1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 587 It appears..to be quite impolitic, entirely to expunge the surface-bearing, or squeeze, from the taps and dies, when these are applied to the ductile metals.

1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 42 The Transit Levies, or Mandarin ‘Squeeze’.

1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 44 We should get our teas at a duty of..one thirty-fifth part of the present ‘squeeze’.

1880 I. L. Bird Unbeaten Tracks Japan I. 51 The practice common among native servants of getting a ‘squeeze’ out of every money transaction.

1892 J. Murdoch From Austral. & Japan i. 125 In his foolishness he was dreaming of ‘squeezes’, of looting temples, of marrying Japanese Princesses.

1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 348 They are always sure that the vein will open again,..when they have cut through that squeeze or twitch.

1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 179 Squeeze, the settling, without breaking, of the roof over a considerable area of workings.

1898 Daily News 5 July 2/5 Squeezes and falls are taking place in the levels and headings throughout the coalfield.

1882 Standard 19 Aug. 3/5 There is no room for doubt that the explosion..was caused by the diffusion of a sudden ‘squeeze’ or outburst of gas.

1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II.

1821 Sporting Mag. 9 27 A prime yellow-man round his squeeze.

1824 J. Badcock Boxiana IV. 260 Abbot appeared on the ground, with a blue bird's eye round his squeeze, and threw his hat into the ring.

c1866 in Farmer & Henley at Squeezer.

1839 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 34 Squeeze, silk.

1877 W. H. Thomson Five Years' Penal Servitude 240 He'd tog himself up in black, with a white ‘squeeze’, on a Sunday.

1877 in Farmer & Henley s.v. We got some squeeze dresses, and two sealskin jackets.

1888 Times 1 Dec. 4/4 He there saw Fife, who said, ‘Did you hear about the load of “squeeze” (meaning silk) that was lost?’

?1863 T. Taylor Ticket-of-leave Man iii. 59 I owe him one for spoiling my squeeze.

1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) at Spell ‘Precious rum squeeze at the spell,’ i.e. a good evening's work at the theatre.

1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 8/2 Squeeze, an impression of a keyhole in wax.

1930 G. D. H. Cole & M. Cole Burglars in Bucks. iii. xxxiv. 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.

1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 71 Squeeze, an impression of a keyhole in wax.

1848 J. F. Cooper Oak Openings II. v. 78 In one instance, however, a young Indian had a still narrower ‘squeeze’ for his life.

1875 S. Wood & H. Lapham Waiting for Mail 24 Jack had had..a still more narrow squeeze, for, had he been one minute sooner at the windlass, nothing could have saved him.

1892 W. S. Gilbert Mountebanks i I assist As soloist, Upon a squeeze.

1897 Windsor Mag. Jan. 277/2 The..garden..contains only one..tennis-court, but at a squeeze could almost take in two.

1905 Dial. Notes 3 22 Tight squeeze,..a difficulty.

1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 1/1 The safest drivers are those who know what their cars can do and how to make them do it in a squeeze.

1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) III. 133 The people are not like a young heir that hath squeezed wax, by which being once bound, it is too late after for him to repent.

1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. 64 Wid. When thou'rt of Age, thou wilt sign, seal and deliver too, wilt thou? Jer. Yes marry will I... Wid. O do not squeeze Wax, Son.

1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 14 Sept. (1965) I. 265 In order to that ceremony, I was squeez'd up in a Gown.

1833 J. Lardner Manuf. Metal II. 241 Placing them..between polished pasteboards, and then squeezing them down very closely.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. i. 19 She squeezed up her child in her arms.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 573 They press against the bast-plate, and squeeze it together, displacing and destroying its elements.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Sss2/1 I squeezed her Hand.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 191. ⁋6 Him that had once squeezed her hand.

1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward II. iv. 77 The poor youth, whose hand he squeezed affectionately.

1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair xliv. 394 Becky seized Pitt's hand... ‘Thank you,’ she said, squeezing it.

1878 Roger Plowman's Excursion to London ii. 21 I gently squoze hur 'and.

1896 J. F. B. Lillard Poker Stories i. 23 Gen. Schenck, like all great poker players, used to squeeze his hand, that is, arrange them so that only the indicators at the corners were visible.

1956 Amer. Speech 31 192 A rifleman never fires a shot, he squeezes off a round.

1975 A. Price Our Man in Camelot vii. 136 He..got his gun clear just as Harry squeezed off his first shot.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 20 Nov. 24/1 But that takes a lot out of a man, particularly when he's squeezing 70. So sometimes he's pretty tired.

1978 Guardian Weekly 30 July 21/1 The original heroine, now squeezing forty.

1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 225 Amidst that debate of Scotland was squeezed out a question about their withdrawing.

1694 in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 230 We shall be able to squeeze it into one [volume].

1777 F. Burney Jrnl. July in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1990) II. 283 She immediately complied, & I squeezed in my Laughter with great decency.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) II. 239 This is not so strong as the case of tacking a third incumbrance to a first, in order to squeeze out a second.

1861 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem III. clxxvi. 211 It will very likely happen, that those who afterwards join, will squeeze him out of partnership.

1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 453 In last year's Annual I was just able to squeeze in a notice of this cheap and convenient erection.

1938 J. Agate Diary 17 Dec. in Selective Ego (1976) 115 Before going down to correct my proofs at the S.T. squeezed in a performance of the Messiah. Or, rather, Beecham squoze it in for me.

1864 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia IV. xvi. xiii. 468 His poor Wife had twice squeezed her way into the Royal Levee at Kensington.

1912 D. Crawford Thinking Black ii. 18 The terror o' mornings is to squeeze your way through this wet, matted tangle.

1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iii. vi. 118 He made a new seal, wherewith he squeezed his subjects, and left a deep impression in their purses.

a1674 J. Milton Brief Hist. Moscovia (1682) i. 15 Being well enricht, he is sent at his own charge to the Wars, and there squeez'd of his ill got wealth.

1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 904 The Church had been so often squeezed by him.

1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero (1742) II. vii. 184 This King Ariobarzanes..had been miserably squeezed and drained by the Roman Generals and Governers.

1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar ix. 99 Squeezing the people..of all the wealth that could be drained out of them.

1894 S. Baring-Gould Deserts S. France II. 193 The old corsair so squeezed these towns as to completely exhaust them.

1691 Sir R. Cox in Sydney Papers (1746) I. 168 I squeezd them hard, having killd and hangd not less than 3000 of them.

1804 Revolutionary Plutarch (new ed.) III. 232 The snuff-box for which I am now pinched, interrupted my career to the consulate for life, in the same manner as a gold bracelet squeezed me in 1796, and prevented me from being a Director.

1888 Christian Leader 28 June 403/2 The sense of being squeezed makes even a pliant man stiffen his back and become obstinate.

1898 Times 15 Nov. 9/4 The notion that England can be ‘squeezed’ indefinitely and will submit to any humiliation.

1885 Harper's Mag. Nov. 842/1 The bulls get a ‘twist on the shorts’ by artificially raising prices, and ‘squeezing’, or compelling the bears to settle at ruinous rates.

1900 S. A. Nelson ABC of Wall St. 160 When shorts become frightened after having oversold and then are forced to violently bid up prices in competition with the owners of stocks they are said to have been squeezed.

1902 L. L. Bell Hope Loring xiv. 272 You squeezed me badly in '93.

1951 Times 3 Jan. 7/2 The domestic consumer of coal and coke is already being squeezed, but he often uses more gas and more electricity as a result.

1970 Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 3/2 The Government can scarcely ask banks to squeeze their customers when a State Corporation is advertising loans to attract business.

1978 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 126 390/2 Manufacturing industry's profits have been greatly squeezed.

1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida iv. sig. H4 Euen this brinish marsh Will squease out teares.

1616 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor (rev. ed.) Induct., in Wks. I. 84 To ceaze on vice, and..Squeeze [1600 Crush] out the humour of such spongie natures, As licke vp euery idle vanitie.

1697 S. Patrick Comm. Exod. (xxvii. 20) 526 Pure Oyl-olive,..Not squeezed out by a Press, or by a Mill,..but..bruised with a Pestel.

1746 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Satires ii. v. 171 Squeeze out some teares.

1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 64 These troubles sometimes squeeze out one third, and at other times one half or more of the thickness of the coal.

1829 N. Arnott Elements Physics II. 12 It becomes instantly sensible on the condensation of any material mass, as if then squeezed out from the mass.

1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes I. xxviii. 273 Lady Kew could..squeeze out a tear over a good novel too.

1892 T. F. Garrett & W. A. Rawson Encycl. Pract. Cookery II. 40 Squeeze out all the juice from the selected quantity of Seville Oranges.

1641 Sir T. Roe in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1910) Apr. 273 My last remonstrance hath squeezed out an answere both from the emperor and the Spanish ambassador.

1710 J. Swift Tale of Tub (ed. 5) Apol. sig. A5^v From whence some have endeavour'd to squeeze out a dangerous Meaning.

1821 V. Knox Spirit of Despotism (ed. 2) 36/1 (note) Speeches in favour of the emperor, which the dread of impending evil squeezed out of many against their will and better judgment.

1835 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 492 No old maids with their mouths, like purses, Squeezing out compliments like curses.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. i. ii. 21 Poverty invades even the royal exchequer, and Tax-farming can squeeze out no more.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Escrager, to crush, or squeeze out of.

1700 J. Dryden Flower & Leaf in Fables 398 They squeez'd the Juice; and cooling Ointment made.

1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 131. ⁋1 They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of the Sloe.

1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 136 To squeeze out of them all such parts of their substance as they will..part with.

1845 G. Budd On Dis. Liver 359 From some of them a little pus, as well as bile, could be squeezed.

1891 R. H. Codrington Melanesians xvi. 316 The cream squeezed out from grated cocoa-nut.

1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Potage Squeezing in some Lemon Juice when served up.

1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxxii. 347 A viscous or slimy liquor that is squeesed in, as if from a sponge, between every joint.

1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 122 He had squeez'd out of the money, moreover, a new bag and a solitaire.

1926 Work-Whitehead Auction Bridge Bull. Jan. 118/2 I will give the three cards remaining in each of the four hands to show how South was squeezed by the lead of the Queen of Clubs.

1934 G. F. Hervey Mod. Contract Bridge xxi. 223 The Americans now call this coup [sc. the Vienna coup] Squeezing or Squeeze Play. The name is apt as the play of the declarer is such that he squeezes the opponents and forces them to discard and unguard a suit.

1949 H. G. Freehill Squeeze at Bridge i. 19 The essential features of the squeeze are three. First: there must be a squeeze-card. That is, a card to the lead of which the player who is squeezed has to discard.

1959 T. Reese & A. Dormer Bridge Player's Dict. 209 Playing no trump, South lays down the ten of hearts and West is squeezed; he must either unguard spades of throw away the winning diamond.

1979 N. Squire Squeeze Play Simplified i. 4 The two menaces are on the left of the player to be squeezed, the squeeze card on his right.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lv. 55 He [the fox] squeez'd hard to get out again; but the Hole was too Little for him.

1768 T. Gray Invit. Mason in Corr. Gray & W. Mason (1853) 412 For thee does Powell squeeze, and Marriot sputter.

1775 R. Fitzpatrick Dorinda (ed. 2) 6 And oh! what bliss, when each alike is pleas'd, The hand that squeezes, and the hand that's squeez'd!

1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose v, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. IV. 109 If he offer to struggle or cry out, fail not..to squeeze doughtily.

1974 J. Gardner Corner Men xiii. 188 The man in the rear of the Merc fired once... Wright squeezed twice.

1890 Athenæum 4 Oct. 455/1 The overhang of the rock makes it extremely difficult to ‘squeeze’ satisfactorily.