Also 9 dial. squob. [Cf. SQUAB sb. and a.]
1. trans. To knock or beat severely; to squash, squeeze flat. Now dial.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., Dict., To Squab, break, sp. by down casting.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. To Squab, or squelch one, to beat him to mash, applatir quêcun de coups.
1847–. in midi. and southern dial. use.
2. refl. To squat (oneself).
In mod. Leic. and Warw. dial., ‘to squeeze (oneself) into a small space.’
1680. R. L’Estrange, Erasm. Colloq. (1711), 9. The Sea-Priest … squabs himself down directly upon our Shoulders.
3. trans. With off: To reject bluntly.
1812. Sporting Mag., XL. 41. Maslen … having most friends on the hill, he squabbed off these evasions.
4. To stuff or stuff up.
1819. H. Busk, Dessert, 37. Ye whose divans, recesses, and whose piers, Are squabb’d with ottomans and chiffoniers.
1891. Cent. Dict., Squab, v.t., to stuff thickly and catch through with thread at regular intervals, as a cushion.
5. intr. To fall or hang in a full or heavy manner.
1755. Johnson, To Squab, v.n., to fall down plump or flat.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, II. xi. Ladies in … short cloaks with hoods squabbing behind, known as cardinals.
