squabs

Noun

squab (countable and uncountable, plural squabs)

1. (attributive, sometimes) A young dove or pigeon.

   Synonyms:

   piper, squeaker

2. (attributive, sometimes) A young chicken.

   Synonyms:

   chick

3. (attributive, sometimes) A young rook.
4. (uncountable) The meat of a young dove or pigeon, typically under four weeks old, used as food.
   • Squab may be consumed by ripping the bird apart with your hands and sucking the meat from the bones.2022, Jennifer Egan, The Candy House, Corsair, page 207
5. (countable) A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.
   • a. 1744, Alexander Pope (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, page 86,
     On her large ſquab you find her ſpread, / Like a fat corpſe upon a bed, / That lies and ſtinks in ſtate.
6. (countable) A person of a short, fat figure.
   • Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:a. 1800, William Cowper, “The Progress of Error”, in Poems of William Cowper, Esq, published 1824, page 28

See all 15 meanings of squab