squatter

English

Etymology

squat +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɒtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɑtɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒtə(ɹ)

Noun

squatter (plural squatters)

1. One who squats, sits down idly.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “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—!"

2. One who occupies a building or land without title or permission. [From 1788.]
   1. (Australia, historical) One who occupied Crown land. [From 1828.]
      • 2004, James Jupp, The English in Australia, page 62:

        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.

   2. (Philippines) A poor vagrant; an illegal informal settler; a hobo or beggar; one suffering from extreme poverty.
3. (Australia, historical) A large-scale grazier and landowner.
   • 1895, “Waltzing Matilda”, Banjo Paterson (lyrics)‎^[1]:

     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.'

   • 1970, George Sampson, The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 3rd Edition, p.754:

     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).

   • 1993, Manning Clark, Michael Cathcart (abridging editor), Manning Clark′s History of Australia: Abridged by Michael Cathcart, p.218:

     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.

   • 2010, Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Peter Carey: A Literary Companion, page 233:

     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.

4. (informal) A squat toilet.
   • 2012, Randall L. Erickson, Traveling Business Class, page 54:

     All of the toilets in both the men's and women's sides were squatters.

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. Additionally, in Philippine usage, its media and journalists refer to an "informal settler" instead.

Derived terms

• cybersquatter
• squatter camp
• websquatter

 

Related terms

• squat
• squattocracy

Translations

one occupying a place without permission

• Bulgarian: незаконно заселил се (nezakonno zaselil se)
• Catalan: ocupa (ca) m or f, okupa (ca) m or f
• Dutch: kraker (nl) m, kraakster f, occupant (nl) m (Suriname)
• French: squatter (fr) m
• Galician: okupa m or f
• German: (occupier of empty house) Hausbesetzer (de) m, (tenant not paying rent) Mietnomade (de) m, (occupier of empty land) Landbesetzer m
• Greek: καταληψίας (el) m or f (katalipsías)
• Ido: squatter (io)
• Italian: abusivo (it), occupatore abusivo
• Latin: agripeta m
• Maori: kainoho kōkuhu
• Polish: squatter (pl) m, dziki lokator (pl) m
• Portuguese: okupa m or f (colloquial)
• Russian: скво́ттер (ru) m (skvóttɛr)
• Spanish: paracaidista (es) m or f (colloquial), okupa (es) m or f (Spain)
• Swedish: husockupant c, ockupant (sv) c
• Turkish: toprak-konducu m or f

See also

• cocky (small scale farmer)

Adjective

squatter

1. comparative form of squat: more squat
   • 1950 July, J. G. Gibbons, “Sightseeing on the Inner Circle”, in Railway Magazine, page 485:

     Nearer at hand, to the left of a huge block (a telephone exchange) and over the top of another, lower, survivor of the blitz, rises the pinnacled tower of St. Alban's Church, and just to the left a glimpse can be obtained of the top of the squatter tower of St. Mary's Aldermanbury.

Anagrams

• quartets

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English squat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwa.te/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

squatter

1. to squat
2. to crash (to make temporary living arrangements)

   On va squatter chez toi ou chez moi ?

   Do we crash at your place or at mine?

3. to tie up

Conjugation

Conjugation of squatter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	squatter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	squattant /skwa.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		squatté /skwa.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	squatte /skwat/	squattes /skwat/	squatte /skwat/	squattons /skwa.tɔ̃/	squattez /skwa.te/	squattent /skwat/
	imperfect	squattais /skwa.tɛ/	squattais /skwa.tɛ/	squattait /skwa.tɛ/	squattions /skwa.tjɔ̃/	squattiez /skwa.tje/	squattaient /skwa.tɛ/
	past historic2	squattai /skwa.te/	squattas /skwa.ta/	squatta /skwa.ta/	squattâmes /skwa.tam/	squattâtes /skwa.tat/	squattèrent /skwa.tɛʁ/
	future	squatterai /skwa.tʁe/	squatteras /skwa.tʁa/	squattera /skwa.tʁa/	squatterons /skwa.tʁɔ̃/	squatterez /skwa.tʁe/	squatteront /skwa.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	squatterais /skwa.tʁɛ/	squatterais /skwa.tʁɛ/	squatterait /skwa.tʁɛ/	squatterions /skwa.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	squatteriez /skwa.tə.ʁje/	squatteraient /skwa.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	squatte /skwat/	squattes /skwat/	squatte /skwat/	squattions /skwa.tjɔ̃/	squattiez /skwa.tje/	squattent /skwat/
	imperfect2	squattasse /skwa.tas/	squattasses /skwa.tas/	squattât /skwa.ta/	squattassions /skwa.ta.sjɔ̃/	squattassiez /skwa.ta.sje/	squattassent /skwa.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	squatte /skwat/	—	squattons /skwa.tɔ̃/	squattez /skwa.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• squattage
• squattériser
• squatteur

Further reading

• “squatter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• traquets