Squeege

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A flat rubber blade fixed to a handle, used for pushing water off windows or floors ; to clear water or moisture from a surface by pulling such a tool across it
2. A handled implement with a rubber edge for drawing liquid off glass or tiles ; to sweep moisture away from a smooth surface using that implement
3. A squeegee is a hand tool with a rubber blade for removing water from surfaces ; the act of wiping a surface clean with this tool

Etymology: The word "squeege" is the older, dated spelling of "squeegee," and it began as a nautical tool. Sailors used a mop or swab with a long handle, or a blade on a pole, to clean and dry a ship's deck, and English borrowed the idea under the name "squilgee" or "squillgee." The tool's name was later respelled, and the form "squeegee" eventually became standard. The word's own ending is the clue to its making. The noun is probably built from "squeege," an informal, now dated verb meaning "to squeeze," which was itself an intensified form of "squeeze," plus the suffix "-ee," used to name things that do the action of a verb. A squeegee, in other words, is the thing that squeezes, or in this case presses water off a surface. The verb "to squeegee," meaning to clean or dry a surface with such a tool, was formed later by turning the noun back into a verb.

Synonyms: wiper, scraper