Part 707

Squar"rous (? or ?), a. Squarrose.

Squar"ru*lose` (?), a. [Dim. of squarrose.] (Bot.) Somewhat squarrose; slightly squarrose. Gray.

Squash (?), n. [Cf. Musquash.] (Zoöl.) An American animal allied to the weasel. [Obs.] Goldsmith.

Squash, n. [Massachusetts Indian asq, pl. asquash, raw, green, immaturate, applied to fruit and vegetables which were used when green, or without cooking; askutasquash vine apple.] (Bot.) A plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita, or gourd kind.

The species are much confused. The long-neck squash is called Cucurbita verrucosa, the Barbary or China squash, C. moschata, and the great winter squash, C. maxima, but the distinctions are not clear.

Squash beetle (Zoöl.), a small American beetle (Diabrotica, or Galeruca vittata) which is often abundant and very injurious to the leaves of squash, cucumber, etc. It is striped with yellow and black. The name is applied also to other allied species. -- Squash bug (Zoöl.), a large black American hemipterous insect (Coreus, or Anasa, tristis) injurious to squash vines.

Squash, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Squashed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Squashing.] [OE. squashen, OF. escachier, esquachier, to squash, to crush, F. écacher, perhaps from (assumed) LL. excoacticare, fr. L. ex + coactare to constrain, from cogere, coactum, to compel. Cf. Cogent, Squat, v. i.] To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.

Squash, n. 1. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of pease.

Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 't is a peascod.

Shak.

2. Hence, something unripe or soft; -- used in contempt. "This squash, this gentleman." Shak.

3. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies. Arbuthnot.

My fall was stopped by a terrible squash.

Swift.

Squash"er (?), n. One who, or that which, squashes.

Squash"i*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being squashy, or soft.

Squash"y (?), a. Easily squashed; soft.

Squat (?), n. (Zoöl.) The angel fish (Squatina angelus).

Squat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Squatting.] [OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. cogere to drive or urge together. See Cogent, Squash, v. t.] 1. To sit down upon the hams or heels; as, the savages squatted near the fire.

2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.

3. To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on common or public lands.

Squat, v. t. To bruise or make flat by a fall. [Obs.]

Squat, a. 1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching.

Him there they found, Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.

Milton.

2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting. "The round, squat turret." R. Browning.

The head [of the squill insect] is broad and squat.

Grew.