▪ I. squab, n.
(skwɒb)
Also 7, 9 dial., squob, 8 squobb, squabb.
[Of uncertain origin: cf. quab n.1 and Sw. dial. sqvabb loose fat flesh, sqvabba a fat woman, sqvabbig flabby, Norw. dial. skvabb a soft wet mass.]
† 1. A raw, inexperienced person. Obs.—1
| 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. ii. ii, I warrant you, is he a trim youth? We must make him one Iacke, 'tis such a squab as thou never sawest; such a lumpe, we may make what we will of him. |
2. a. A newly-hatched, unfledged, or very young bird. Also fig. of a person.
| 1682 Shadwell Medal John Bayes 69 Should all thy borrow'd plumes we from thee tear, How truly Poet Squab would'st thou appear! a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Squab,..a new Hatcht Chick. 1736 W. Ellis New Exper. 95 The earliest young ones [i.e. goslings] are commonly sent to London in March,..called squabs. 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., Squab, an unfledged bird. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xix. (1856) 146 Some of the men succeeded in reaching the squabs [= young auks] by introducing their arms. 1865 Kingsley Herew. v, At the bottom of each [pie] a squab or young cormorant. |
b. spec. A young pigeon.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. lix. 234 Pigeons, Squobbs, and Squeakers. 1765 Treat. Dom. Pigeons 50 This article, and the young squabs, will nearly, if not quite, maintain your Pigeons in food. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 573/2 It is generally considered that a cock [pigeon] homes quickest when driving to nest, and a hen when she is feeding squabs. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xxvi, The gale blew down my pigeon-house and mashed all my squabs. 1902 R. W. Chambers Maids of Paradise i, Among which generations of pigeons had built nests and raised countless broods of squealing squabs. |
c. A young rabbit. rare—0.
| 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., Squab,..a young rabbit, before it is covered with hair. |
3. A short fat person.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Squab, a very fat, truss Person. 1710 Pope Lett. (1735) I. 152 We shall then see that the Prudes of this World..are naturally as arrant Squabs as those that went more loose. 1791 O'Keeffe Wild Oats iv. i, Your figure is the most happy comedy squab I ever saw. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ¶29 A fat laughing squab of a woman. 1823 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 240 He is a fat, sallow squab of a man. 1897 Bartram People of Clopton vii. 201 A great fat squab loike Lucy. |
4. A sofa, ottoman, or couch.
| 1664 Verney Mem. (1907) II. 211 For a drawing-rome i should have 2 squobs, & 6 turned woden chars of the haith of the longe seates. 1689 Lond Gaz. No. 2495/4 The Covering of a large Squab, the upper side of Cloth of silver, the Ground white and toward a Filamot. a 1710 Pope Imit., Artemisia 10 On her large squab you find her spread, Like a fat corpse upon a bed. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 178 Under this I had made me a Squab or Couch, with the Skins of the Creatures I had kill'd, and with other soft Things. 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 355 Squab, a couch, common in most farm ‘houses’. 1867 Morn. Star 1 Jan. 2 In consequence of the fullness of the house the deceased was compelled to sleep on a sofa or squab in the bar. 1892 M. C. F. Morris Yorksh. Folk Talk 377 The squab is a roughly-made couch or long-settle with cushions, differing from the ordinary long-settle in that it has one arm instead of two. |
5. a. A thick or soft cushion, esp. one serving to cover the seat of a chair or sofa.
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict., A Squab, or very soft Cushion, coussin fort moû. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Squab, a soft stuffed Cushion or Stool. 1730 Inv. R. Woolley's Goods (1732) 8, 3 Pair of Window Curtains and 3 Squabs of the same. 1748 Richardson Clarissa VI. 158 An old broken-bottomed cane couch, without a squab, or coverlid, sunk at one corner [etc.]. 1819 H. Busk Vestriad iv. 1051 Bolstering his head with squabs, his mind with hope. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. x, Chairs, with turned legs and green chintz squabs to match the curtains. 1881 G. Macdonald Mary Marston xxxvii, She was poking the little fists into the squab of the sofa. |
| transf. 1860 Mayhew Upper Rhine v. 272 The apparatus appears to be more like a large squab of a watch-pocket. |
b. A cushion forming part of the inside fittings of a carriage. Hence, in mod. use, the padded back or side of a car-seat.
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 145 A squab, or sleeping cushion;..occasionally added to the insides of those carriages, for the head or shoulders to incline against. 1844 Hewlett Parsons & Widows vii, He looked into the carriage, turned up the squabs. 1888 Farr & Thrupp Coach Trimming vi. 75 Back Squabs are not usually fastened at the sides, and it is the custom to make the sides curving out from the straight line, that the squab may not when fixed appear narrower across the middle. 1904 Car 15 June 114/2 Two extra seats..fold up underneath the back squab. 1924 Motor 28 Oct. 700/1 Several different methods have been invented to enable the angle of the squab to be varied. 1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive vii. 62, I slid back and rested my head on the rear squab... It was a big car, comfortable. 1972 Drive Spring 147/3 The height, legroom and squab level of the driver's seat can be adjusted. |
6. attrib. a. In sense 2, as squab-condition, squab-gull, squab-pigeon, squab-virtuoso.
| 1686 F. Spence tr. Varillas' Ho. Medicis 227 He nurs'd up these Squab-virtuoso's in Literature almost from the very Cradle. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. iii. 219 To pickle Sparrows or Squab-Pigeons. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxiv. 320 The squab-gull of Hans Island has a well-earned reputation..for its delicious juices. 1877 Newton in Encycl. Brit. VI. 407 The young [of the cormorant]..remain for some time in the squab-condition. |
b. In senses 4 and 5, as squab chair, squab cushion, squab-seat, squab sofa.
| 1837 Marryat Dog Fiend xxiv, Seated on the squab sofa. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy (1854) 263 There were squab seats all round the room. 1860 All Year Round No. 63. 306 An old mahogany Empire arm-chair, with squab cushion. 1864 N. & Q. 3rd Ser. VI. 136/2 Upholsterers make sofa and couch seats of three kinds, called respectively squab-seats, spring seats, and stuffed tight seats. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guardian Angel ii, Nurse Byloe let herself drop into a flaccid squab chair. |
▪ II. squab, a.
(skwɒb)
Also 7 squob, 8 squabb.
[Cf. prec.]
1. Of persons: Short and stout; squat and plump.
| 1675 Wycherley Country Wife iv. iii, I am now no more interruption to 'em..than a little squab French page who speaks no English. 1682 Flatman Heracl. Ridens (1713) II. 234 Do you know that same Squab Blade with the light Peruke? 1703 Farquhar Inconstant i. ii, A Dutch woman is squab. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxviii, As Rock is remarkably squab, his great rival, Franks, is remarkably tall. 1827 T. Hamilton Cyril Thornton (1845) 47 His lordship was a little squab man. 1865 Reader No. 122. 489/2 The squab yellow Hottentots. 1884 Besant Dorothy Forster i, His eyes were large, his figure short and squab. |
b. Having a thick clumsy form.
| 1723 Chambers tr. Le Clerc's Archit. I. 46 The Capital..wou'd be too flat and squab. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xliv, Turning his squab nose up in the air. 1885 Clark Russell Strange Voy. v, A large three-masted ironclad, with low squab funnel. 1894 Idler Sept. 134 That ancient ship..with her..artillery running the fat squab length of her. |
c. Comb., as squab-faced, squab-looking, squab-shaped adjs.
| 1781 F. Burney Diary May, The Attorney-General, a most squat and squab-looking man. 1795 Southey Lett. from Spain (1799) 9 Its fountain ornamented with a squab-faced figure of Fame. 1865 Alex. Smith Summer in Skye ii, Comical squab-faced deities in silver and bronze. 1889 C. Edwardes Sardinia & the Sardes 103 Mostly its buildings are low, squab-shaped, and of sun-dried brick. |
2. Young and undeveloped; esp. of young birds, unfledged or not fully fledged, newly or lately hatched.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Squab Rabbet or Chick, one so young that 'tis scarce fit to be eaten. 1709 Brit. Apollo No. 46. 3/1 A Glazier..Came like a Squab-Rook flutt'ring down. 1774 G. White Selborne lxi, I..found in each nest only two squab, naked pulli. 1789 Ibid., The squab young we brought down and placed on the grass-plot. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 269 A nest-full of little squab Cupids. |
† 3. Reserved, quiet. Obs.—1
| 1689 N. Lee Princ. Cleve iii. i, Your demure Ladies that are so Squob in company, are Divels in a corner. |
† 4. Abrupt, blunt, curt. Obs.
| 1737 Hervey Mem. II. 340 Most people blamed the Duke of Argyll for so squab an attack. a 1743 Savage An Author to be let ¶8 Thus have I caused his Enemies..to libel him for my squab compliment. 1756 H. Walpole Lett. Mann (1833) III. 125 We have returned a squab answer, retorting the infraction of treaties. 1759 Ibid. 338 Lord Ligonier in words was more squab. ‘If he wanted a court-martial, he might go seek it in Germany.’ |
▪ III. squab, v.
(skwɒb)
Also 9 dial. squob.
[Cf. squab n. and a.]
1. trans. To knock or beat severely; to squash, squeeze flat. Now dial.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. Dict., To Squab, break, sp. by down casting. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, To Squab, or squelch one, to beat him to mash, applatir quêcun de coups. 1847– in midl. and southern dial. use. |
2. refl. To squat (oneself).
In mod. Leic. and Warw. dial., ‘to squeeze (oneself) into a small space’.
| 1680 R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1711) 9 The Sea-Priest..squabs himself down directly upon our Shoulders. |
3. trans. With off: To reject bluntly.
| 1812 Sporting Mag. XL. 41 Maslen..having most friends on the hill, he squabbed off these evasions. |
4. To stuff or stuff up.
| 1819 H. Busk Dessert 37 Ye whose divans, recesses, and whose piers, Are squabb'd with ottomans and chiffoniers. 1891 Cent. Dict., Squab, v.t., to stuff thickly and catch through with thread at regular intervals, as a cushion. |
5. intr. To fall or hang in a full or heavy manner.
| 1755 Johnson, To Squab, v.n., to fall down plump or flat. 1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. xi, Ladies in..short cloaks with hoods squabbing behind, known as cardinals. |
▪ IV. squab, int. and adv.
Also 9 dial. squob.
[Imitative.]
a. int. (See quot.)
| a 1625 Fletcher Women Pleas'd i. i, I should be loath to see ye Come fluttering down like a young Rook, cry squab, And take ye up with your brains beaten into your buttocks. |
b. adv. With a heavy fall or squash.
| 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables, Eagle & Tort. 192 The Eagle took him up a matter of Steeple-high into the Air, and..dropt him down, Squab upon a Rock. 1847 Halliw. s.v. Squob, He throwed him down squob. Sussex. 1890 Glouc. Gloss. 149 Er came down squob. |