Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

absquatulate

/æbˈskwɑt͡ʃ.ʊ.leɪt/ verb

Latin root: word Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about absquatulate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along.
The thief made off with our silver

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word