Word.ws English Dictionary

until the pips squeak

until the pips squeak phrase: until the maximum amount has been extracted.

Phrase

until the pips squeak

  1. (UK) Until the maximum amount has been extracted.
    • Churchill was looking back to a statement made in 1918 by the British politician and businessman Eric Campbell Geddes. A Unionist candidate in the General Election of that year (seen as a 'khaki' election), he was pressed to make clear his position on war reperations to be extracted from Germany....2006 October 26, Elizabeth Knowles, What They Didn't Say: A Book of Misquotations
    • Martyrs are desperate to demonstrate their self-flagellatory capabilities in the hope that someone out there actually cares. If they think their peers or bosses really do, then they are seriously deluding themselves; I'm afraid the Martyr will be exploited until the pips squeak.2011, Andrew Holmes, Pains in the Office: 50 People You Absolutely, Definitely Must Avoid at Work!

Examples of until the pips squeak in a sentence

  • According to this report, Geddes said: 'The Germans, if this Government is returned, are going to pay every penny; they are going to be squeezed as a lemon is squeezed - until the pips squeak.2006 October 26, Elizabeth Knowles, What They Didn't Say: A Book of Misquotations:
  • I’m no fan of the Labour leader, but if you take a look at the supposedly Marxist plans he and John McDonnell have put forward, they’re not exactly planning to tax the rich until the pips squeak.2019 May 11, James Moore, “Sod the Rich List, we should be publishing a 'Tax Contributor' list that can be a badge of honour”, in The...
  • In the meantime he will continue to squeeze the Iranian economy until the pips squeak because clearly it is bothering them.2019 September 22, Tim Newark, “Trump strikes right tone in necessary face-off with Iran”, in The Express:

Origin of until the pips squeak

Originally coined by the First Lord of the Admiralty and Unionist election candidate Eric Geddes in an election promise to "squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak", made during a speech in Cambridge on 10 December 1918 and reported the next day by the Cambridge Daily News.

Questions about until the pips squeak

What does until the pips squeak mean?
Until the pips squeak means until the maximum amount has been extracted.
How do you use until the pips squeak in a sentence?
According to this report, Geddes said: 'The Germans, if this Government is returned, are going to pay every penny; they are going to be squeezed as a lemon is squeezed - until the pips squeak.
What part of speech is until the pips squeak?
Until the pips squeak is a phrase.

Words near until the pips squeak in the dictionary

  1. until such time as
  2. until the cows come
  3. until the cows come home
  4. until the cows freeze over
  5. until the last dog is hung
  6. until the pips squeak
  7. until the wheels fall off
  8. until we meet again
  9. untile
  10. untiled
  11. untiles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: until the pips squeak (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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Cite this entry: “until the pips squeak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/until_the_pips_squeak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.