Word.ws English Dictionary

squeaky bum time

squeaky bum time noun: chiefly, an exciting part of a sporting event, particularly the final moments of a close game or season.

Noun

squeaky bum time (uncountable)

  1. (UK, informal) Chiefly, an exciting part of a sporting event, particularly the final moments of a close game or season.
    • "It's getting tickly now - squeaky-bum time, I call it."2003 March 18, “Fergie just can't stop playing his mind games”, in Daily Express, page 62

Origin of squeaky bum time

Attributed to Sir Alex Ferguson, famed Scottish association football manager and former player, it implies the sound made by moving around in a plastic seat while squirming under pressure. Ferguson had said "squeeze your bum time" (that is, clenching one's buttocks under pressure) but it was misheard by journalist Kevin McCarra and the misquote stuck.

Questions about squeaky bum time

What does squeaky bum time mean?
Squeaky bum time means chiefly, an exciting part of a sporting event, particularly the final moments of a close game or season.
What part of speech is squeaky bum time?
Squeaky bum time is a noun.

Words near squeaky bum time in the dictionary

  1. squeakquels
  2. squeaks
  3. squeaks out
  4. squeaks through
  5. squeaky
  6. squeaky bum time
  7. squeaky cheese
  8. squeaky clean
  9. squeaky wheel
  10. squeaky wheel system
  11. squeaky wheel systems

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: squeaky bum time (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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