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squatter

American  
[skwot-er] / ˈskwɒt ər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that squats.

  2. a person who settles on land or occupies property without title, right, or payment of rent.

  3. a person who settles on land under government regulation, in order to acquire title.

squatter British  
/ ˈskwɒtə /

noun

  1. a person who occupies property or land to which he has no legal title

    1. (formerly) a person who occupied a tract of land, esp pastoral land, as tenant of the Crown

    2. a farmer of sheep or cattle on a large scale

  3. (in New Zealand) a 19th-century settler who took up large acreage on a Crown lease

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • squatterdom noun

Etymology

Origin of squatter

First recorded in 1775–85; squat + -er 1

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.