squab
English
![](../I/m/Mother_Dove_and_Squabs_Nesting.jpg)
A nesting dove with squabs
![](../I/m/Half-Squab.jpg)
Squab (young pigeon) leg and breast
Etymology
Unknown, unattested before 17th c.. Possibly descended from Swedish dialect skvabb (“fatty, flabby”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈskwɒb/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈskwɑb/
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
squab (plural squabs)
- (sometimes attributive) A baby pigeon, dove, or chicken.
- The meat of such a baby bird used as food.
- A baby rook.
- A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.
- a. 1744, Alexander Pope (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, page 86,
- On her large ſquab you find her ſpread, / Like a fat corpſe upon a bed, / That lies and ſtinks in ſtate.
- (Can we date this quote?) Charles Dickens
- Punching the squab of chairs and sofas.
- a. 1744, Alexander Pope (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, page 86,
- A person of a short, fat figure.
- a. 1800, William Cowper, The Progress of Error, 1824, Poems of William Cowper, Esq, page 28,
- Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:
- a. 1800, William Cowper, The Progress of Error, 1824, Poems of William Cowper, Esq, page 28,
Synonyms
Translations
baby pigeon
meat of a young pigeon or dove
baby rook
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Verb
squab (third-person singular simple present squabs, present participle squabbing, simple past and past participle squabbed)
Adjective
squab (comparative more squab, superlative most squab)
- Fat; thick; plump; bulky.
- (Can we date this quote?) Betterton
- Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.
- (Can we date this quote?) Betterton
- Unfledged; unfeathered.
- a squab pigeon
- (Can we find and add a quotation of King to this entry?)
- Clumsy.
- Curt; abrupt.
- Shy; coy.
Adverb
squab (not comparable)
- (slang) With a heavy fall; plump.
- (Can we date this quote?) L'Estrange
- The eagle took the tortoise up into the air, and dropped him down, squab, upon a rock.
- (Can we date this quote?) L'Estrange
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for squab in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Anagrams
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