squeeze (someone or something) until the pips squeak

squeeze (someone or something) until the pips squeak

To use force or pressure to exploit someone for as much money, information, manpower, etc., as someone has or is able to give. Primarily heard in UK. We were hoping to start our own business, but those loan sharks squeezed us until the pips squeaked with insanely high interest rates. Interrogators are planning to squeeze the captured spy until the pips squeak for all the information he may have about the enemy's plans.

See also: pip, squeak, squeeze, until

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

squeeze someone until the pips squeak

extract the maximum amount of money from someone. British

This expression alludes to a speech made in 1918 by the British politician Sir Eric Geddes on the subject of Germany's payment of indemnities after World War I: ‘The Germans…are going to pay every penny; they are going to be squeezed as a lemon is squeezed—until the pips squeak’. More recently, in the 1970s, the Labour Chancellor Denis Healey declared his intention to squeeze the rich until the pips squeaked.

See also: pip, someone, squeak, squeeze, until

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