squilgee
Syllables: squil·gee/ˈskwɪld͡ʒiː/US/ˈskwɪlˌd͡ʒi/
squilgee noun: a tool in the form of a mop or swab, or a blade with a long handle, used for cleaning and/or drying a vessel's deck; a type of squeegee.
Noun
squilgee (plural squilgees)
- A tool in the form of a mop or swab, or a blade with a long handle, used for cleaning and/or drying a vessel's deck; a type of squeegee.
- After the holy-stone, comes the squill-gee; a wooden instrument like a hoe, but with a face, broad and flat, and lined with leather: the decks are partly dried with it; and the operation is completed by the swabs, articles formed by tying a number of loose yarns together, now dashed, by their...1829, George Jones, Sketches of Naval Life, with Notices of Men, Manners and Scenery, on the Shores of the Mediterranean, in a Series of Letters from the Brandwine and Constitution Frigates, volume...
- A whaleman's nipper is a short firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan's tail: […] Edgewise moved along the oily deck, it operates like a leathern squilgee; and by nameless blandishments, as of magic, allures along with it all impurities.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “A Squeeze of the Hand”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 466
Verb
squilgee (third-person singular simple present squilgees, present participle squilgeeing, simple past and past participle squilgeed)
Synonyms of squilgee
Forms of squilgee
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | squilgees |
| alternative form | squillage |
| alternative form | squillagee |
| alternative form | squillgee |
| alternative form | squill-gee |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | squilgees |
| present participle | squilgeeing |
| past participle | squilgeed |
| past | squilgeed |
Origin of squilgee
The origin of the noun is unknown; compare squeegee which is attested later. The verb is probably derived from the noun.
Words formed from squilgee
Words that rhyme with squilgee
Questions about squilgee
- What does squilgee mean?
- Squilgee means a tool in the form of a mop or swab, or a blade with a long handle, used for cleaning and/or drying a vessel's deck; a type of squeegee.
- What part of speech is squilgee?
- Squilgee can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce squilgee?
- Squilgee is pronounced /ˈskwɪld͡ʒiː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of squilgee?
- The plural of squilgee is squilgees.
Words near squilgee in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: squilgee (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-squilgee.wav.
Cite this entry: “squilgee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/squilgee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.