SQUATTERING

Etymology

Verb

squattering

present participle of squatter

Adjective

squattering (comparative more squattering, superlative most squattering)

(obsolete) Straggling; messy.

It is a language (as are many others round about me) like to that of Poitou, Xaintonge, Angoulesme, Limosin, and Auvergne, squattering, dragling, and filthie.

Source: Wiktionary


SQUATTER

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



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Word of the Day

4 April 2025

GUILLOTINE

(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”


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Coffee Trivia

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