squab

plural squabs

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

      Synonyms: piper, squeaker

   2. attributivecountablesometimesuncountableA young chicken.

      Synonyms: chick

   3. attributivecountablesometimesuncountableA young rook.
2. uncountableThe meat of a young dove or pigeon, typically under four weeks old, used as food.

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

   2022, Jennifer Egan, The Candy House, Corsair, page 207

3. countableA thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.

   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.

   2 more examples

   [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.

   1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Retribution”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 591

   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.

   1957 August 28, “New Multiple-Unit Stock for Hastings and Watford Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 532

4. countableA person of a short, fat figure.

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

   a. 1800, William Cowper, “The Progress of Error”, in Poems of William Cowper, Esq, published 1824, page 28

present singular third person squabs · participle present squabbing · participle past squabbed · past squabbed

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

comparative more squab · superlative most squab

1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky.

   Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.

   1712, Thomas Betterton, The Miller of Trompington

   1 more example

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

   1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 93

2. Unfledged; unfeathered.

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

   1836, Richard King, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean

3. Clumsy.
4. Curt; abrupt.
5. Shy; coy.

1. not comparableslangWith a heavy fall; plump.

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

   1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC