squeegee
Americannoun
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squeegees
plural
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an implement edged with rubber or the like, for removing water from windows after washing, sweeping water from wet decks, etc.
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a similar and smaller device, as for removing excess water from photographic negatives or prints or for forcing paint, ink, etc., through a porous surface, as in serigraphy.
verb (used with object)
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squeegees,
present (3rd person singular)
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squeegeed,
past participle, past
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squeegeeing
present participle
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to sweep, scrape, or press with or as if with a squeegee.
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to force (paint, ink, etc.) through a screen in making a silk-screen print.
noun
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an implement with a rubber blade used for wiping away surplus water from a surface, such as a windowpane
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any of various similar devices used in photography for pressing the water out of wet prints or negatives or for squeezing prints onto a glazing surface
verb
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to remove (water or other liquid) from (something) by use of a squeegee
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(tr) to press down (a photographic print, etc) with a squeegee
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squeegeesimple
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squeegeessimple
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have squeegeedperfect
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has squeegeedperfect
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am squeegeeingprogressive
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are squeegeeingprogressive
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is squeegeeingprogressive
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have been squeegeeingperfect progressive
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has been squeegeeingperfect progressive
Past
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squeegeedsimple
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had squeegeedperfect
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was squeegeeingprogressive
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were squeegeeingprogressive
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had been squeegeeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squeegee
First recorded in 1835–45; originally a nautical term; of obscure origin
Explanation
A squeegee is a tool that's used for cleaning windows. You can wash your windows without one, but a rubber-edged squeegee makes cleaning a lot easier (and more fun — because you get to say the word squeegee). The word squeegee first appeared among sailors, describing a leather-edged device for cleaning a ship's deck. In 1851's Moby Dick, there is a reference to a "leathern squilgee." The word probably comes from the now-obsolete verb squeege, "to press." This tool eventually evolved into the rubber and metal (or plastic) version we know today, used for printing, photography, and window cleaning.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The pieces, all individually crafted, often require more than one squeegee pass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
“Poppy,” a multicolored abstract from 1995 created using the German artist’s signature squeegee gesture is expected to sell for around $15 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
"For a brief second, I thought there was someone with a squeegee mop cleaning the outside of the window. I turned around, and it was the bear's wet nose rubbing against the window."
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026
Edan McPherson dips a long squeegee into a pool of melted chocolate, draws the rubber blade across the coarse mesh.
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2023
On another street, a young Asian woman was using a long-handled squeegee to push water out the front door of a Chinese restaurant.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
The players finally re-emerged for warm-ups about one hour and 40 minutes later, and even then the restart was delayed further as stadium personnel used squeegees to remove standing water off the pitch.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
As the rain fell overnight, a maintenance crew armed with leaf blowers and giant squeegees worked up to kickoff to keep the field in decent condition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2025
Others have hit the streets, selling flowers and brandishing squeegees to wash car windows.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Bass was astounded when more than 50 congregants responded to his emergency appeal for help, hurrying to the unlit church with push brooms and squeegees and working to clear the water.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2021
The tar was made hot and applied to the surfaces with rubber squeegees and then sanded.
From Concrete Construction Methods and Costs by Halbert Powers Gillette
Bruce Lee had so much of it, it practically had to be squeegeed off the walls whenever he was in a room.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
The bleachers also are squeegeed, so, as Percival said, the crew doesn’t “use all the towels in D.C.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2018
Such a show’s image-object godfather might be German painter Gerhard Richter, whose work alternates between fuzzy photographic realism and blurry, squeegeed abstractions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2016
Anyone with the mildest case of synaesthesia will have a jarring time of it with some of these paintings, where the same words – Blah Blah Blah – come squeegeed in cacophonously multicoloured arrays.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 13, 2012
The windshield of the SUV was filthy, smeared with dead hugs, even though Dad had squeegeed it when they last stopped to refuel.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Rogers climbed into his pickup truck after squeegeeing his windshield.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
While city leaders pledged to finally address the root causes of squeegeeing, members of the public expressed skepticism about whether this latest effort will provide anything more than a Band-Aid solution.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
The planned enforcement action marks a major turning point in the city’s approach to squeegeeing.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
But by squeegeeing the layers separately one right after the other, the researchers laid down a better network of donors and acceptors at up to 30 m per minute.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 10, 2022
In a mirror image above, at least forty people dangle from the ceiling by harnesses, squeegeeing off the already pristine dome ceiling.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
