Squab, a. Etym: [Cf. dial. Sw. sqvabb a soft and fat body, sqvabba a fat woman, Icel. kvap jelly, jellylike things, and and E. quab.]
1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky. Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice. Betterton.
2. Unfledged; unfeathered; as, a squab pigeon. King.
Squab, n.
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: A neatling of a pigeon or other similar bird, esp. when very fat and not fully fledged.
2. A person of a short, fat figure. Gorgonious sits abdominous and wan, Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan. Cowper.
3. A thickly stuffed cushion; especially, one used for the seat of a sofa, couch, or chair; also, a sofa. Punching the squab of chairs and sofas. Dickens. On her large squab you find her spread. Pope.
Squab, adv. Etym: [Cf. dial. Sw. squapp, a word imitative of a splash, and E. squab fat, unfledged.]
Definition: With a heavy fall; plump. [Vulgar] The eagle took the tortoise up into the air, and dropped him down, squab, upon a rock. L'Estrange.
Squab, v. i.
Definition: To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke. [Obs.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
27 January 2025
(adjective) capable of being split or cleft or divided in the direction of the grain; “fissile crystals”; “fissile wood”
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
