1. a kitchen tool that presses a piece of citrus fruit, such as a lemon or a lime,
1.nounB1
Definition
a kitchen tool that presses a piece of citrus fruit, such as a lemon or a lime, so that the liquid comes out and can be used for cooking or making drinks
Example
Mei-Lin used the squeezer to make fresh orange juice before school.
past tense + purpose clause (to make...)
The glass squeezer sat on the kitchen counter next to a bowl of lemons.
inanimate subject + positional detail (on... next to...)
Yuki borrowed a squeezer from a neighbour to make lemonade for the party.
There is a small metal squeezer in the drawer by the fridge.
there is + [material] ~ + location
With a good squeezer, you can press a lime in seconds without getting seeds into the juice.
All four words describe tools that extract liquid from fruit, but they differ in shape and operation. A squeezer is typically a hand-held device with a ridged dome or a hinged two-part design; you cut the fruit in half and press it against the dome or close the handles. A juicer is usually an electric appliance that spins or chews the whole fruit to separate juice from pulp and seeds. A reamer is a simpler cone-shaped tool that you twist into the cut fruit by hand. A press often refers to a larger lever-operated or hydraulic device used for apples or grapes. For everyday kitchen use in Taiwanese households, squeezer and juicer are the most common terms; reamer is less frequent and press usually implies a larger tool for bulk juice-making.
Comes from the verb 'squeeze' (to press something firmly) combined with the suffix '-er', which marks a tool that performs an action. The verb 'squeeze' entered English around the early 1500s and probably comes from a Germanic root meaning 'to crush'. The noun 'squeezer' has been used for juice-pressing tools since the 1700s.