squatter
nounUK /ˈskwɒ.tə/ · US /ˈskwɑ.təɹ/
Etymology From squat + -er.
1
One who squats; one who sits down idly.
- “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
› One who occupies a building or land without…
2
Australia, Historical One who occupied Crown land.
- While settlement in New South Wales was initially confined, many moved outside the boundaries to become squatters, eventually consolidating their originally illegal hold on the land.2004, James Jupp, The English in Australia, page 62:
3
Philippines A poor vagrant; a hobo or beggar; one suffering from extreme poverty.
4
Australia, Historical A large-scale grazier and landowner.
- Down came the squatter, a'riding his thoroughbred, / Down came policemen, one, two and three. /'Whose is the jumbuck you've got in the tucker bag? / You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.'1895, “Waltzing Matilda”, Banjo Paterson (lyrics):
- Boldrewood was a squatter, a magistrate and a commissioner of goldfields and knew thoroughly the life he described in Robbery Under Arms (1888), the story of the bushranger Captain Starlight—first serialised in The Sydney Mail in 1881—and in his numerous other novels, which included The Squatter′s Dream (1890).1970, George Sampson, The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 3rd Edition, p.754
2 more examples
- In Parliament, at least, the squatters were secure. ¶ In the early 1840s a severe depression threatened livelihoods in all the colonies except South Australia and many squatters resorted to slaughtering their sheep and boiling them down for tallow.1993, Manning Clark, Michael Cathcart (abridging editor), Manning Clark′s History of Australia: Abridged by Michael Cathcart, p.218
- His dealings with squatter R. R. McBean and superintendents Hare and Nicolson amaze the 16-year-old, who has little experience with the wealthy privileged class.2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 233:
5
Informal A squat toilet.
- All of the toilets in both the men's and women's sides were squatters.2012, Randall L. Erickson, Traveling Business Class, page 54:
- Derived terms
- antisquatter, cybersquatter, squatter camp, squatterdom, squattering, squatterism, websquatter