[skweek] 
,| 1. | a short, sharp, shrill cry; a sharp, high-pitched sound. |
| 2. | Informal. opportunity; chance: their last squeak to correct the manuscript. |
| 3. | an escape from defeat, danger, death, or destruction (usually qualified by narrow or close). |
| 4. | to utter or emit a squeak or squeaky sound. |
| 5. | Slang. to confess or turn informer; squeal. |
| 6. | to utter or sound with a squeak or squeaks. |
| 7. | squeak by or through, to succeed, survive, pass, win, etc., by a very narrow margin: They can barely squeak by on their income. The team managed to squeak through. |
squeak by
Also, squeak through. Manage barely to pass, win, survive, or the like, as in They are just squeaking by on their income, or He squeaked through the driver's test. This idiom transfers squeak in the sense of "barely emit a sound" to "narrowly manage something." [First half of 1900s] Also see squeeze through.