Adjacent Words

Squatter definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SQUATTER, n.
1. One that squats or sits close.
2. In the United States, one that settles on new land without a title.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to it [syn: squatter, homesteader, nester]
2: someone who settles on land without right or title

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb Etymology: imitative Date: 1785 to go along through or as if through water <ducks squattering to the shore> II. noun Date: 1788 one that squats: as a. one that settles on property without right or title or payment of rent b. one that settles on public land under government regulation with the purpose of acquiring title

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a person who takes unauthorized possession of unoccupied premises. 2 Austral. a a sheep-farmer esp. on a large scale. b hist. a person who gets the right of pasturage from the government on easy terms. 3 a person who settles on new esp. public land without title. 4 a person who squats.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat 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 (Zo["o]l.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local, U.S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. (Zo["o]l.) 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(squatters) A squatter is someone who lives in an unused building without having a legal right to do so and without paying any rent or any property tax. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

arriviste, colonial, colonist, colonizer, emigrant, gate-crasher, greenhorn, hirer, homesteader, immigrant, incumbent, intruder, leaseholder, lessee, lodger, nester, new arrival, new boy, newcomer, novus homo, occupant, occupier, parvenu, paying guest, pioneer, planter, precursor, recruit, renter, resident, rookie, roomer, settler, sooner, stowaway, sublessee, subtenant, tenant, tenant at sufferance, tenant for life, tenderfoot, underlessee, upstart