squatter
NounUS[skwah-ter]/ˈskwɑtɚ/2 syllables
Open English WordNet
Noun (2)squatters
- someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to itSynonyms: homesteadernesterType of settler, colonist
- someone who settles on land without right or titleType of intruder, interloper
Word of the day · Oct 6About this word
spuriousadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Squat′ter (-tẽr), noun
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.
In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were tolerated to an extent now unknown.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
2. Zoology 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. John Russell. Bartlett
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54