squeeze - What does it mean?

Verb

(squeez)

To apply pressure to from two or more sides at once

I squeezed the ball between my hands.

Please don't squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle.

* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1

"Over there—by the rock," Steele muttered, with his brush between his teeth, squeezing out raw sienna, and keeping his eyes fixed on Betty Flanders's back.

(ambitransitive) To fit into a tight place

I managed to squeeze the car into that parking space.

Can you squeeze through that gap?

* {{quote-news

|year=2010 |date=December 29 |author=Sam Sheringham |title=Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton |work=BBC citation |page= |passage=It was an omen of things to come as in the 56th minute the visitors took the lead after a mix-up between Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos allowed Ebanks-Blake's through-ball to squeeze between them.}}

* 1908 ,

Could he not squeeze under the seat of a carriage? He had seen this method adopted by schoolboys, when the journey- money provided by thoughtful parents had been diverted to other and better ends.

To remove something with difficulty, or apparent difficulty

He squeezed some money out of his wallet.

To put in a difficult position by presenting two or more choices

I'm being squeezed between my job and my volunteer work.

* 2013 May 23, , " British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party," New York Times (retrieved 29 May 2013):

At a time when Mr. Cameron is being squeezed from both sides — from the right by members of his own party and by the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, and from the left by his Liberal Democrat coalition partners — the move seemed uncharacteristically clunky.

(figurative) To oppress with hardships, burdens, or taxes; to harass.

* L'Estrange

In a civil war, people must expect to be crushed and squeezed toward the burden.

(baseball) To attempt to score a runner from third by bunting

Jones squeezed in Smith with a perfect bunt.