squab
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈskwɒb/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈskwɑb/
Noun

squab (plural squabs)

  1. (sometimes, attributive) A baby pigeon, dove, or chicken.
  2. The meat of such a baby bird used as food.
  3. A baby rook.
  4. A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.
    • ante 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.
    • Charles Dickens
      Punching the squab of chairs and sofas.
  5. A person of a short, fat figure.
    • ante 1800 William Cowper, The Progress of Error, 1824, Poems of William Cowper, Esq, page 28 ↗,
      Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:
Synonyms
  • (baby pigeon) piper, squeaker, pigeon chick, young pigeon, baby dove
  • (baby rook) rook chick, young rook
Translations Translations
  • French: pigeonneau
  • German: Täubchen, Täubchenfleisch
  • Portuguese: borracho
  • Russian: голубя́тина
Translations
  • Portuguese: coxim
  • Russian: поду́шка
Verb

squab (squabs, present participle squabbing; past and past participle squabbed)

  1. (obsolete) To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke.
  2. (transitive) To furnish with squabs, or cushions.
  3. (transitive) To stuff thickly and sew through, the stitches being concealed by buttons, etc.
Adjective

squab

  1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky.
    • Betterton
      Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.
  2. Unfledged; unfeathered.
    a squab pigeon
  3. Clumsy.
  4. Curt; abrupt.
  5. Shy; coy.
Adverb

squab (not comparable)

  1. (slang) With a heavy fall; plump.
    • L'Estrange
      The eagle took the tortoise up into the air, and dropped him down, squab, upon a rock.



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