squirt

[ skwurt ]

verb (used without object)

1. to eject liquid in a jet from a narrow orifice:

   The hose squirted all over us.

2. to eject a spurt of liquid:

   The lemon squirted in my eye.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause (liquid or a viscous substance) to spurt or issue in a jet, as from a narrow orifice:

   Squirt the water over that way!

2. to wet or bespatter with a liquid or viscous substance so ejected:

   to squirt someone with a hose.

noun

1. the act of squirting.
2. a spurt or jetlike stream, as of water.

   Synonyms: livestream, spray, jet

3. a small quantity of liquid or viscous substance squirted:

   Put a squirt of chocolate sauce on my ice cream.

4. Informal.
   1. a youngster, especially a meddlesome or impudent one.
   2. a short person.
   3. an insignificant, self-assertive person, especially one who is small or young.
5. an instrument for squirting, as a syringe.
6. Usually squirts. Dialect. diarrhea.

squirt

/ skwɜːt /

verb

1. to force (a liquid) or (of a liquid) to be forced out of a narrow opening
2. tr to cover or spatter with liquid so ejected

noun

1. a jet or amount of liquid so ejected
2. the act or an instance of squirting
3. an instrument used for squirting
4. informal.
   1. a person regarded as insignificant or contemptible
   2. a short person

Derived Forms

• ˈsquirter, noun

Other Words From

• squirter noun
• squirting·ly adverb
• un·squirted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of squirt¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English verb squirten, apparently variant of swirten; cognate with Low German swirtjen in the same sense; perhaps akin to swirl; noun derivative of the verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of squirt¹

C15: of imitative origin

Example Sentences

The layers were presoaked, but for good measure, Ruiz fired off a few more squirts of lukewarm water into both the jacket and shorts.

From Outside Online

Mar de Viñas Albariño 2020Val do Salnés, Rías Baixas, Spain, $19Citrusy, with a hint of salinity from the ocean breeze off the Atlantic, this wine brightens your palate the way a squirt of lemon lifts the flavors of any dish.

From Washington Post

My 3-year-old sanitized his doll’s hands with an imaginary squirt of Purell after each outing to the backyard.

From Washington Post

Cañestro thought that Oikopleura had perhaps retained simpler, more ancestral features than other sea squirts and could be a guide to what they had evolved from.

From Quanta Magazine

When Cristian Cañestro set out in the early 2000s to study how animals with brains and backbones evolved, he picked a sea squirt called Oikopleura as a useful subject.

From Quanta Magazine

Spam, squirt guns, earthworms, pirate costumes—stuff like that.

From The Daily Beast

His only options: slap a GPS tracker on the little squirt or buy him a cellphone.

From The Daily Beast

The song also happened to call his opponent, incumbent Martin Van Buren, a “little squirt wirt wirt.”

From The Daily Beast

Skaters squirt each other with bottled water and do tricks on the subway stairs.

From The Daily Beast

“Secret Service officers huddled in the guard booth” until the official beekeeper took the bees down with a squirt bottle.

From The Daily Beast

Porky pulled out his check-book and begun to scribble with one of them squirt-gun pens.

From Project Gutenberg

I'll learn you to leave junk in my way, you greenhorn squirt!

From Project Gutenberg

It is also advisable to squirt distillate up into the case through the opening where the strainer has been removed.

From Project Gutenberg

He grasped the oil can and, in order to test the efficacy of its squirt, shot a generous stream down Captain Scraggs's collar.

From Project Gutenberg

They could squirt full ten feet before the wind, as appeared by the marks of the drops on the sand.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• pour
• spatter
• spit
• splash
• spray
• sprinkle