absquatulate

American  

[ab-skwoch-uh-leyt] / æbˈskwɒtʃ əˌleɪt /

verb (used without object)

Slang.

absquatulated, absquatulating

1. to flee; abscond.

   The old prospector absquatulated with our picks and shovel.

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absquatulate British  

/ æbˈskwɒtjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to leave; decamp

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Other Word Forms

• absquatulater
  noun
• absquatulation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of absquatulate

1820–30; pseudo-Latinism, from ab-, squat, and -ulate, paralleling Latin-derived words with initial abs- (e.g., abscond, abstention ) and final -tulate (e.g., congratulate )

Explanation

Absquatulate is a deeply silly word that means to make off with something or someone. Why say a thief ran away with your money when it's much more fun to say he absquatulated with it? The word absquatulate came out of an odd fad in America in the 1830s for making playful words that sounded vaguely Latin. Bloviate ("speak pompously") and discombobulate ("make confused") are two other pseudo-Latin coinages from that era. Absquatulate takes the word squat and adds the prefix ab- "off, away" and the verb ending -ulate to suggest getting up and leaving quickly. It's hardly ever used nowadays, mostly showing up as an example of an absurd word.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

absquatulate absquatulated absquatulating

He turned round and, exercising his privilege as an "Old Boy," gruffly ordered us to "absquatulate," which means nothing worse than "scram."

From Time Magazine Archive

Other items which Sir William traces far include: absquatulate, anxious seat, slam bang, cinch, lengthy, maverick, rain check, barn stormer, cowcatcher, calamity howler, greased lightning, rambunctious.

From Time Magazine Archive

The way Jupiter Charity-Sanchez is now staring at the poster on her closet door—flushed cheeks, moist eyes, closed mouth—makes me want to absquatulate into a crevasse somewhere and perish.

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

"But now," went on the little old gentleman, "we must all absquatulate."

From The Poor Little Rich Girl by Eleanor Gates

"People absquatulate from St. Helen's toward autumn, don't they?" she remarked.

From In the High Valley Being the fifth and last volume of the Katy Did series by Susan Coolidge

“He has absquatulated, and taken the specie with him:” absconded is a more classical word.

From Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Pronouncing, and Writing the English Language, Corrected by Anonymous

But I take no other mountainous and absquatulated grounds on this trial, and move that a quash be laid upon this indictment.

From The American Union Speaker by John D. (John Dudley) Philbrick

When I told him, as an old soldier, that three trains might carry three thousand troops he absquatulated.

From The Soul of Susan Yellam by Horace Annesley Vachell

You absquatulated, I presume; a levantular movement at midnight--ran away, hey?'

From The Record of Nicholas Freydon An Autobiography by A. J. (Alec John) Dawson

A part of the preceding delegation from Pennsylvania, finding the Declaration of Rights would be adopted, were seized with crown fits and nothing but absquatulating powders promised any relief to the spasmodic attack.

From Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson