A Narrow Squeak Is a Very Close Escape
A squeak is a short high sound. English uses the word for barely surviving something, and for being spotlessly clean.
A squeak is a short high-pitched sound — a mouse, a hinge, a shoe on a polished floor. The word is also how English talks about margins: a *narrow squeak* is a close escape, to *squeak through* is to succeed by the smallest amount, and *squeaky clean* means so clean that a finger drawn across it squeaks.
- A short high sound. *The hinge squeaked.*
- To scrape through. *We squeaked into the final.*
- Narrow squeak — a close escape. *That was a narrow squeak.*
- Squeaky clean — spotless, or beyond reproach. *A squeaky clean record.*
- Not a squeak — no sound at all. *Not a squeak out of him.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | squeak | The door squeaks. |
| Past | squeaked | It squeaked open. |
| Noun | squeak | A faint squeak. |
| Adjective | squeaky | A squeaky wheel. |
| Idiom | squeaky clean | Squeaky clean hair. |
- The floorboard squeaked and gave him away.Literal.
- They squeaked home by a single point.Sport.
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease.American proverb about complaining.
Small sound words
- Squeak — short, high, often from friction
- Squeal — longer and louder, often from a person or a tyre
- Creak — low and slow, wood or metal under strain
- Screech — harsh, prolonged and unpleasant
- Chirp — light and pleasant, usually a bird or insect
Imitative in origin, recorded from the 1300s and probably influenced by Scandinavian forms. *Squeaky clean* is twentieth-century and came from advertising.
What does squeaky clean mean?
Literally, so clean that a finger drawn over the surface squeaks. Figuratively, having a reputation with nothing against it.
Where does the squeaky wheel gets the grease come from?
An American proverb from the early twentieth century, meaning the person who complains loudest gets attention.