squeegees

Noun

squeegee (plural squeegees)

1. A tool for scraping consisting of a blade of rubber or some other material attached at a right angle to a handle.
   • This machine, […] consists of a timber cylinder revolving on an axle, […] The cylinder is armed externally with diagonally-fixed scrapers, squeegees, or brushes.1866 November 1, “Phillip’s Patent Rotary Cylinder for Cleaning Ship‘s Bottoms”, in W[illia]m Smith, editor, The Artizan: A Monthly Record of the Progress of Civil and Mechanical Engineering...
   1. A long-handled tool with a blade used for cleaning and/or drying surfaces, or for levelling paths, roadways, etc.
      • [F]our men were employed in playing the jets, two in moving the hose from place to place, and four with brooms in sweeping the surfaces of the asphalte and keeping the channels free from straw and larger refuse; they also used squeegees to dry the surface of the asphalte, it being thought desirable...1873 March 22, William Haywood, “Washing the Streets”, in George Godwin, editor, The Builder. An Illustrated Weekly Magazine for the Architect, Engineer, Archæologist, Constructor, Sanitary Reformer...
   2. A short-handled tool with a blade for drying car windshields, windows, etc.
      • For roughly the same cost as two bottles of bathroom cleaner, it is now possible to buy a small squeegee and a microfibre cloth. If you can, buy a squeegee that also has a sucker attachment to enable it to be stuck somewhere convenient and always at hand the moment you emerge gleaming from your...2017, Edward Dickens, “Keep the Shower Room Clean”, in 101 Amazing Dad Skills, London: Portico, Pavilion Books Company, →ISBN
   3. A long-handled tool with a blade used on ships for swabbing decks and spreading protective coatings.
      • As for holy-stoning the decks [of the yacht], I set my face against that from the first; it is the worst description of nervous torture of which I ever heard, excepting perhaps, the infliction of the squee gee, which, as its name almost implies, sets every tooth in one's head on edge for a week.1844, [Matilda Charlotte Fraser] Houstoun, chapter III, in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico; or Yachting in the New World: […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 39
2. (historical) A street-cleaning machine consisting of a roller with blades pulled by a horse.
   • Experiments during the previous year in street washing by squeegee and flushing machines proved so successful that this method has been permanently adopted and the work will be extended as funds are available. The squeegee machines are operated in batteries of one sprinkler and three squeegees, the...1912 September 3, J. W. Paxton, “Report of the Superintendent of Street Cleaning”, in Annual Report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia: Year Ended June 30, 1912, volume II (Engineer...
3. A tool used to press film into a mount, remove excess moisture from a print, etc.; a squeezer.
   • The transfer of the image from paper on to the glass is very easy. The paper is immersed in water, and placed in contact with a glass plate. The superfluous moisture being removed by a squeegee, the paper may then be stripped off, leaving the gelatine on the glass.1885, C[harles] G[eorge] Warnford Lock, “[Photography—Gelatine Processes.] Gelatino-bromide Film Paper.”, in Workshop Receipts (4th Series), London; New York, N.Y.: E[rnest] & F. N. Spon, […], →OCLC...

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