1.
[syn: squatter, homesteader, nester]
2. someone who settles on land without right or title;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Squat \Squat\, n.
1. The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or
close to the ground.
[1913 Webster]
2. A sudden or crushing fall. [Obs.] --Herbert.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Mining)
(a) A small vein of ore.
(b) A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. --Halliwell.
--Woodward.
[1913 Webster]
Squat snipe (Zool.), the jacksnipe; -- called also
squatter. [Local, U.S.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Squatter \Squat"ter\ (-t[~e]r), 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 legal
permission and restrictions, before acquiring title.
[1913 Webster]
In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were
tolerated to an extent now unknown. --Macaulay.
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2. (Zool.) See Squat snipe, under Squat.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
squatter
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
43 Moby Thesaurus words for "squatter":
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