absquatulate

English

WOTD – 17 June 2006

Etymology

Attested since the 1830s in American English, a jocular mock-Latin word. 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)”. The middle portion was perhaps influenced by -le (“(frequentative)”) and the dialectal term squattle (“depart”); compare contemporary skedaddle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æb.ˈskwɑt͡ʃ.ʊ.leɪt/, /æbz.ˈkwɑt͡ʃ.ʊ.leɪt/, /æbz.ˈkwɑt͡ʃ.ə.leɪt/

• Audio (US):

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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 depart, flee. [from 19th c.]
   • 1840 January 9, “The President's Message, No. 2”, in Lincoln Telegraph, volume IV, number 41, Bath, Maine, page 3:

     Even within the past year, several Land Officers and keepers of public monies--the Collector of New Orleans and Plattsburg--the Post Masters of Mobile and Worcester have made serious and prominent additions to the long catalogue of absquatulating defaulters.

   • 1910, H. G. Wells, The history of Mr. Polly:

     " […] Now I see you again—I’m satisfied. I’m satisfied completely. See? I’m going to absquatulate, see? Hey Presto right away.”
     He turned to his tea for a moment, finished his cup noisily, stood up.

2. (intransitive, slang) to abscond.

Synonyms

• (leave quickly): abscond, decamp, skedaddle, vamoose
• See Thesaurus:leave

Derived terms

• abscotchalater

Translations

to leave quickly or in a hurry; to take oneself off; to decamp; to depart

• Bulgarian: вдигам гълъбите (vdigam gǎlǎbite)
• Czech: zdejchnout se
• Dutch: er vanonder muizen, 'm smeren, zijn biezen pakken, wegwezen (nl), er vanonder trekken
• German: fliehen (de), fortlaufen (de), davonmachen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 逃げる (ja) (にげる, nigeru)
• Korean: 뺑소니치다 (ppaengsonichida), 종적을 감추다 (jongjeogeul gamchuda)
• Polish: zwiewać
• Swedish: dunsta (sv), smita (sv), fly (sv), dra (sv)

See also

• Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “absquatulate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.