The word squeak means a short, high-pitched, sharp sound and the act of making such sound. As a noun, a squeak is a brief shrill noise like that made by a mouse, a rusty hinge, a rubber shoe on polished floor, a balloon releasing air, or a squeeze toy. It is high frequency, often described as eek or cheep. As a verb, to squeak means to emit that sound, to make high-pitched noise, as in the floorboard squeaks or the mouse squeaked. Figuratively, to squeak by or squeak through means to barely succeed, pass, or escape by narrow margin, as in she squeaked by with 60 percent. In slang, to squeak means to inform or confess, similar to squeal, as in he squeaked to the cops. The term pipsqueak means a small insignificant person. The idiom the squeaky wheel gets the grease means the person who complains loudest gets attention. Squeaky clean means morally spotless. So squeak primarily refers to high-pitched sound but also carries meanings of narrow escape and informing, all associated with smallness, high pitch, and briefness. It originates from Middle English squeak imitating the sound.
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