absquatulate

English

WOTD – 17 June 2006

Etymology

Attested since the 1830s in American English, a jocular mock-Latin word.[1] Blend of abscond +‎ squat +‎ perambulate, as ab- (“away (from)”) (as in abscond) + squat + *-ulate (as in perambulate, properly -ate), hence meaning “get up (from a squat) and depart (quickly)”.[1][2] The middle portion was perhaps influenced by -le (“(frequentative)”) and the dialectal term squattle (“depart”); compare contemporary skedaddle.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /æb.ˈskwɑtʃ.ʊ.leɪt/, /æbz.ˈkwɑtʃ.ʊ.leɪt/, /æbz.ˈkwɑtʃ.ə.leɪt/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Verb

absquatulate (third-person singular simple present absquatulates, present participle absquatulating, simple past and past participle absquatulated)

  1. (intransitive, slang) To leave quickly or in a hurry; to take oneself off; to decamp; to depart, flee. [from 19th c.][3]
  2. (intransitive, slang) to abscond.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

  • Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

References

  • “absquatulate” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.
  1. 1 2 “Absquatulate” in Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, 3 August 2002.
  2. ↑ New Orleans Weekly Picayune, December 1839
  3. ↑ Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], →ISBN), page 9
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