English

Noun

squatter ‎(plural squatters)

1. One who squats, sits down idly.
   • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VI”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     “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, p.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.

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

Derived terms

• cybersquatter, websquatter

Related terms

• squat
• squattocracy

See also

• cocky (small scale farmer)

Translations

Anagrams

• quartets

French

Etymology

From English to squat.

Verb

squatter

1. to squat
2. to be, to crash at a place

   On va squatter chez toi ou chez moi ?

3. to tie up

Conjugation

Derived terms

• squattage
• squattériser
• squatteur

Anagrams

• traquets