means A short, high-pitched, thin sound — like the cry of a mouse or the protest of an unoiled hinge — or, as a verb, to make such a sound (and, by extension, to just barely manage something, as in 'squeak by').

from An imitative word — its sound is its meaning, the squeezed little noise spoken aloud. It surfaced in Middle English and sits in a noisy family of echoic 'squ-' words like squeal, squawk, and squeak's quieter cousin creak. Likely related to similar Scandinavian forms, but its real parent is simply the ear.