A method is proposed for measuring the rheology of cement paste under conditions that suppress shear flow, i.e. squeezing. This method is based on squeezing samples in a servohydraulic compression-tension testing machine, and is different from the commonly used shear flow experiments. Possible artefacts such as the buoyancy of the piston that penetrates the paste, sedimentation of cement paste, geometry of the container, and friction at the interface between the top plate (or piston) and sample are investigated. Plots of stress versus apparent strain were obtained and compared with results from standard shear flow experiments. Because cement paste has both viscoelastic and viscoplastic characteristics, results are analysed in terms of both solid-like deformation and liquid-like flow behaviour. A first-approximation theoretical analysis is developed, based on the assumption that cement paste behaves as a non-Newtonian liquid, and results are compared with the experimental results.