Formerly, a small swab for drying a vessel's deck; now, a kind of scraper having a blade or edge of rubber or of leather, -- used for removing superfluous water or other liquids, as from a vessel's deck after washing, from window panes, photographer's plates, etc.  [1913 Webster]

 To swab, press, or treat with a squilgee; as, to squilgee a vessel's deck.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]