SQUATTER

squatter

(noun) someone who settles on land without right or title

squatter, homesteader, nester

(noun) someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to it

SQUAT

squat, underslung

(adjective) having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground

chunky, dumpy, low-set, squat, squatty, stumpy

(adjective) short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature; “some people seem born to be square and chunky”; “a dumpy little dumpling of a woman”; “dachshunds are long lowset dogs with drooping ears”; “a little church with a squat tower”; “a squatty red smokestack”; “a stumpy ungainly figure”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

squatter (plural squatters)

One who squats, sits down idly.

One who occupies a building or land without title or permission. [From 1788.]

(Australia, historical) One who occupied Crown land. [From 1828.]

(Australia, historical) A large-scale grazier and landowner.

(informal) A squat toilet.

Usage notes

In Australian historical usage, the distinction between the senses of occupier of Crown land and large scale landowner is often blurred; many of the original illegal landholders became rich and, as a group, politically powerful.

Anagrams

• quartets

Source: Wiktionary


Squat"ter, n.

1. One who squats; specifically, one who settles unlawfully upon land without a title. In the United States and Australia the term is sometimes applied also to a person who settles lawfully upon government land under permission and restrictions, before acquiring title. In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were tolerated to an extent now unknown. Macaulay.

2. (Zoöl.)

Definition: See Squat snipe, under Squat. Squatter sovereignty, the right claimed by the squatters, or actual residents, of a Territory of the United States to make their own laws. [Local, U.S.] Bartlett.

SQUAT

Squat, n. (Zoöl.)

Definition: The angel fish (Squatina angelus

Squat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Squatting.] Etym: [OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. cogere to drive or urge together. See Cogent, Squash, v. t.]

1. To sit down upon the hams or heels; as, the savages squatted near the fire.

2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.

3. To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on common or public lands.

Squat, v. t.

Definition: To bruise or make flat by a fall. [Obs.]

Squat, a.

1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching. Him there they found, Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve. Milton.

2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting. "The round, squat turret." R. Browning. The head [of the squill insect] is broad and squat. Grew.

Squat, n.

1. The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or close to the ground.

2. A sudden or crushing fall. [Obs.] erbert.

3. (Mining) (a) A small vein of ore. (b) A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. Halliwell. Woodward. Squat snipe (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local, U.S.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

8 November 2024

REPLACEMENT

(noun) the act of furnishing an equivalent person or thing in the place of another; “replacing the star will not be easy”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

According to Statista, the global coffee industry is worth US$363 billion in 2020. The market grows annually by 10.6%, and 78% of revenue came from out-of-home establishments like cafes and coffee beverage retailers.

coffee icon