squatter — English Dictionary

Noun

1. One who squats; one who sits down idly.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

2. One who occupies a building or land without title or permission. One who occupied Crown land.

   Usage

   • Australia
   • Historical

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   While settlement in New South Wales was initially confined, many moved outside the boundaries to become squatters, eventually consolidating their originally illegal hold on the land.

3. One who occupies a building or land without title or permission. A poor vagrant; a hobo or beggar; one suffering from extreme poverty.

   Usage

   • Philippines

   Synonyms

   informal settler

4. A large-scale grazier and landowner.

   Usage

   • Australia
   • Historical

   Examples

   More examples (4)

   Down came the squatter, a'riding his thoroughbred, / Down came policemen, one, two and three. /'Whose is the jumbuck you've got in the tucker bag? / You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.'

   Boldrewood was a squatter, a magistrate and a commissioner of goldfields and knew thoroughly the life he described in Robbery Under Arms (1888), the story of the bushranger Captain Starlight—first serialised in The Sydney Mail in 1881—and in his numerous other novels, which included The Squatter′s Dream (1890).

   In Parliament, at least, the squatters were secure. ¶ In the early 1840s a severe depression threatened livelihoods in all the colonies except South Australia and many squatters resorted to slaughtering their sheep and boiling them down for tallow.

   His dealings with squatter R. R. McBean and superintendents Hare and Nicolson amaze the 16-year-old, who has little experience with the wealthy privileged class.

5. A squat toilet.

   Usage

   • Informal

   Examples

   All of the toilets in both the men's and women's sides were squatters.

Noun

1. someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to it

   Synonyms

   homesteadernester

   Broader terms

   settlercolonist

2. someone who settles on land without right or title

   Broader terms

   intruderinterlopertrespasser