squatter

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who occupies land or a building without legal title, permission, or a tenancy agreement

   The abandoned warehouse was occupied by a squatter seeking shelter.

2. 2
   noun

   historical Australia: a settler who occupied Crown grazing land, later especially a wealthy pastoral leaseholder

   The nineteenth-century squatter managed an immense sheep station inland.

3. 3
   noun

   a person who squats or remains seated low to the ground

   The squatter rose slowly after tending the campfire.

An agent noun from squat. The unauthorized-occupant sense developed from settling on land without title. In colonial Australia, squatter became a historical term for pastoral settlers on Crown land and later for powerful leaseholding graziers.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary