squab — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A fledgling (young) bird. A young dove or pigeon.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • Countable
   • sometimes
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   pipersqueaker

2. A fledgling (young) bird. A young chicken.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • Countable
   • sometimes
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   chick

3. A fledgling (young) bird. A young rook.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • Countable
   • sometimes
   • Uncountable

4. The meat of a young dove or pigeon, typically under four weeks old, used as food.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Squab may be consumed by ripping the bird apart with your hands and sucking the meat from the bones.

5. A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   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.

   [H]erds of shabby vampires, Jew and Christian, over-run the house, [...] punching the squabs of chairs and sofas with their dirty fists, touzling the feather-beds, opening and shutting all the drawers, balancing the silver spoons and forks, looking into the very threads of the drapery and linen, and disparaging everything.

   Another feature new to British Railways is the provision of two-position adjustable seats in the first class compartments. In this design, the seat squab can be pulled out some six inches, the seat back being attached to the seat to give a less upright sitting position.

6. A person of a short, fat figure.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:

Verb

1. To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

2. To furnish with squabs, or cushions.

   Usage

   • Transitive

3. To stuff thickly and sew through, the stitches being concealed by buttons, etc.

   Usage

   • Transitive

Adjective

1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky.

   Examples

   Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.

   So on his Nightmare through the evening fog / Flits the squab fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog […].

2. Unfledged; unfeathered.

   Examples

   broken limbs of trees, eggs, and young squab pigeons precipitated from above

3. Clumsy.

4. Curt; abrupt.

5. Shy; coy.

Adverb

1. With a heavy fall; plump.

   Usage

   • not-comparable
   • Slang

   Examples

   The eagle took the tortoise up into the air, and dropped him down, squab, upon a rock.

Adjective

1. short and fat

   Synonyms

   squabby

Noun

1. flesh of a pigeon suitable for roasting or braising; flesh of a dove (young squab) may be broiled

   Synonyms

   dove

   Broader terms

   poultry

2. a soft padded sofa

   Broader terms

   sofacouchlounge

3. an unfledged pigeon

   Broader terms

   pigeon